Saving Neopia
by Ohfortheloveofpete
Summary: A young misfit Blumaroo gets involved in one of the many quests to save Neopia from evil...can he along with a bunch of other Neopets save Neopia?
1. Chapter 1: The Adventure Unfolds

Saving Neopia

_Well, here's my sixth or so story I've made on fanfictionnet. For some reason even though I've been a teenager I've been playing Neopets a lot lately (crazy, I know.) so I decided to make this story._

_Mind you, it can be dark and scary at times (much like Neopia itself), although I'll try to keep it appropriate for the audiences at , of course. I'll also try to keep it original, although some things in the story may remind you of other things on the site…._

_I've got other stories to work on, so don't be surprised if I don't update too much. I'll try to finish the story through beginning to end though. So without further ado, let the story begin!_

**Chapter 1: The Adventure Unfolds**

_Our story starts at Roo Island…the place where the happy-go-lucky Blumaroos call home…_

A yellow Blumaroo was sitting at a table, reading a book.

"Hey Bloony, want to go play Dice-A-Roo?" a blue Blumaroo asked him.

"Not now, Bluigi, I'm in the middle of reading a book." The yellow Blumaroo responded, slightly irritated.

"Ok, suit yourself." With that, the blue Blumaroo bounced off.

Bloony the Blumaroo had always been different from the other Blumaroos. He was not carefree (although he was usually in a good mood, given that Roo Island was a paradise), he was not careless, he was not that fond of nachos (which all the other Blumaroos craved), and he would not play Dice-A-Roo that much.

While this did not earn him the dislike of the other Blumaroos, Bloony the Blumaroo usually wondered why he was so different. His parents were just as happy-go-lucky as the other Blumaroos, why wasn't he?

Bloony decided to keep reading his book for the time being. Maybe he could find something interesting. He was quite intelligent for a Blumaroo, and was close to getting into the Book Club.

Bloony was about to finish the book when he heard a knock on his door. Bloony put his book down and went to answer the door.

"What?" Bloony asked, once again irritated. "The king's inviting everyone to his castle."

"OK." Bloony said, rolling his eyes as he did so. Usually when the king invited everyone to his castle it was for a party or something. Bloony wasn't that fond of parties. It wasn't that he didn't like them entirely, he just didn't like the loud noises all the Blumaroos made during the party and whatnot. They were real party animals.

Today however, things were different. "Hello everyone! It's me, the King of Roo Island!" the King said to his subjects. "Hooray!" the Blumaroos shouted. (Well, except for Bloony, who simply waved at him.)

"Now normally I would call you here for a pizza party or something like that. After all, you guys do enjoy food. But today I'd like to talk about something just a little more serious." The Blumaroos looked at each other and at the king in confusion.

"Don't get me wrong, it's nothing major, it's just that a Chia who visited the island has suddenly been reported missing." The King continued. "According to the Blumaroos who saw the Chia, she wasn't very social, and had very bad manners."

All the other Blumaroos once again looked in each other in confusion. An antisocial Chia? That was almost completely unheard of. Even fully-grown Chias would rarely live alone. There were more towns and villages dedicated to Chias that to any other species of Neopet. What was the world of Neopia coming to?

Bloony thought to himself. "Hmm, interesting. A misfit, kinda like myself…."

"It's nothing major, I'm sure the Chia will turn up soon. But until then, be on the lookout for a Red Chia, OK? Remember what I told you."

The Blumaroos all left the castle after that. Bloony thought to himself, "Where could that Chia be?"

It was getting late, so the Blumaroo decided to go to the bed.

Unbeknowist to the Blumaroo however, the reasons for the Chia's disappearance were more sinister than the King had realized….

_So the story begins….do you like it so far? In the next chapter, we'll see what has happened to the red little Chia…._


	2. Chapter 2: Cherry The Chia

Saving Neopia

**Chapter 2: Cherry The Chia**

The search for the Red Chia was starting to get frantic. Almost every Blumaroo on the island (and believe me, there are a lot of Blumaroos on Roo Island) were now searching for the Chia.

It couldn't be hard to find one Chia could it? It seemed like they were searching for a needle in a haystack….

Bloony decided to simply lie down on a rock and rest, when suddenly the rock moved away from him. Bloony was confused, until he discovered that the rock led to a hidden passageway.

Curious, Bloony climbed down the ladder that led to the bottom. It wasn't a very long tunnel, but judging from the footprints, somebody had been using it recently.

Bloony followed the tunnel, eventually hearing sounds of what appeared to be someone calling for help, and someone laughing maniacally. It started to creep Bloony out, but he kept going. Soon enough he found out who was making the noise. It was a Red Chia, who was strapped to a moving wheel. Next to her was a Green Blumaroo.

"FOR THE LOVE OF FYORA, SOMEONE HELP ME!" the Red Chia screamed. "Forget it, Chia! I already told you, screaming isn't going to help you! I've hidden this underground tunnel so that none of the Blumaroos will hear you, let alone find you!" the Green Blumaroo spat. "I've designed the tunnel so that the only way it can be opened is if someone rested on it or something, and seeing how hyperactive the Blumaroos are…now let's resume our game of knife throwing shall we?" The Green Blumaroo put on a blindfold and started throwing knives at the Red Chia, one of which just barely missed.

Bloony couldn't take this anymore. "What the heck do you think you're doing?" Bloony shouted to the Green Blumaroo. "What the-how'd you find me?"

"I told you screaming would work!" the Red Chia said, blowing a raspberry at the Green Blumaroo. Bloony remembered what King Roo had said. She definitely matched the description.

The Green Blumaroo took off his blindfold, and started throwing knives at Bloony. Bloony ducked when one of them headed straight towards his head. The Green Blumaroo, frustrated, started picking out more sharp objects out of his box. Bloony took the opportunity to punch him in the face.

"OW!" the Green Blumaroo exclaimed. He pulled out an Attack Fork, and attempted to jab Bloony with it. Bloony ducked and kicked him in the leg.

"OOF!" The Green Blumaroo, obviously injured, started limping. However, this did not stop him from pulling out a dagger, covered with Cobrall Poison.

"Be careful!" the Red Chia warned Bloony. Bloony ducked just in time. Looking for a weapon of his own to use against the Green Blumaroo, Bloony pulled out a book he had kept with him (he almost always had a book of some sort).

"Ha! What's that supposed to do?" The Green Blumaroo's question was answered when he was hit in the head with it, knocking him out cold.

Bloony undid the straps, freeing the poor Chia. "Thanks for helping me!" Suddenly out of nowhere the Chia gave out a loud burp.

Bloony covered his nose in disgust. "Better out than in, I always say!" Blooey decided, gross as the Chia may be, that he needed to get her home.

Bloony had no idea he was capable of fighting such a dangerous adversary. Then again, he had caught the Green Blumaroo by surprise, and he didn't seem that great of a fighter either….

"Did you get what his name was?" the yellow Blumaroo asked as he and the Chia left the tunnel. "He said his name was Snotty."

"I see…" Bloony said, chuckling a little inside.

The other Blumaroos were happy to see that the Chia had been returned safe and sound. "Where'd you find her?" one of the Blumaroos asked. "It's a long story." Bloony said.

Bloony asked the Chia what her name was. Apparently her name was Cherry, and she came from Neopia Central. She was visiting Roo Island when Snotty whacked her on the head with a stone club.

Bloony and Cherry had made sure that they had brought Snotty with him, to make sure he received what he had deserved.

"So let me get this straight, this green Blumaroo you bring before me kidnapped you, strapped you to a moving wheel, and threw knives at you?" The Red Chia nodded.

"Well then, there's only one place for a person like him! Take him to the prison!" the King ordered.

The guards took Snotty to the prison, which was simply a cardboard box made to look like a prison.

"Why do I get the feeling that we'll be running into him again in the near future?" Cherry asked.

"I can see why you would think that…" Bloony said. Today had been a crazy day….

_In the next chapter, things will start to go wrong for Roo Island….Please R&R!_


	3. Chapter 3: The Trouble Begins

Saving Neopia

**Chapter 3: The Trouble Begins**

All the Blumaroos thought Bloony was a hero, although all Bloony was trying to do was stop that green Blumaroo from hurting that poor Red Chia. Apparently that was how it worked on Roo Island….

"So, are you heading back towards Neopia Central?" Bloony asked Cherry.

"No thanks. I'm staying right here for the moment. I still haven't finished touring the island."

It had been a while since Snotty had been locked behind bars, and Bloony and Cherry were talking to each other. Talking to her was somewhat frustrating as she would often get distracted. "I wonder how the other Chias put up with her." Bloony wondered to himself.

"I wonder how Snotty is doing." Cherry asked. "Something tells me this isn't the first time he's played one of those twisted games…"

"Let's just hope that the authorities can keep him locked up while we're still at the island." Bloony said. "I'll show you around."

Bloony showed her around the island, including the merry-go-round, how to play Dice-A-Roo (which Cherry played a couple times), Count Von Roo's coffin (which Bloony warned her not to open), and last but not least, King Roo's Castle.

"Wow, Roo Island sure is a nice place to live huh?" Cherry the Chia asked. "Yep, it sure is. Although I haven't left the island yet to be honest with you. I don't know how the other places are like…well except in the books I read."

"I see…You should probably head to Neopia Central…its huge!" Cherry the Chia told Bloony.

"I'll consider it…" Bloony said, although he wasn't sure he was ready to leave the island yet.

Bloony took Cherry to his house, and showed her his telescope. She noticed that there seemed to be storm clouds heading their way. But there seemed to be something unusual about them.

"Looks like it's going to rain." Cherry responded to Bloony. "I see…" With that, the two of them decided they should leave Roo Island another day.

Meanwhile in King Roo's Prison….

"This stinks! Some stupid Blumaroo managed to find me and ruin my plans! All I was trying to do is have a little fun!" Snotty said, trapped in a cardboard prison along with a Lupe.

"I feel for you dude! All I did was try to eat a Blumaroo to see if he tasted like nachos…after all that's pretty much everything they eat!" the Lupe said.

"OK, so who are you?" Snotty asked the Lupe.

"Well, people call me Redtooth…"

"I see…that reminds me….one of the people on the revenge list is a Chia….if we ever get out of here, you could have the Chia for breakfast….

"Really? You mean it! I bet the Chia will be delicious!"

"Well, the Chia was named Cherry…."

"I'll do it then…"

And so a pact was made between the two criminals….

"Hey, it is just me, or do you hear laughter?" one of the Blumaroo guards said to the other. (Believe it or not, there were only two guards in the whole castle).

"It's probably just your imagination…"

As sinister as the laughing was however, it was nothing compared to what was going on at a far away castle….

The castle in question was decorated with various evil instruments. There were few light sources in the castle, making everything in it dark and scary.

Inside the castle was a throne made out of bones. Sitting on a throne was a rather tall figure wearing a rather fancy-looking cloak. Nobody could see what his face looked like, as he kept it hidden in the shadows.

A rather short figure wearing a cloak (although not nearly as fancy as the former's) entered the room.

"Sir, we are about to launch the attack on Roo Island."

"Excellent."

The villains were about to launch an attack on Roo Island, as it was the ideal place to start their plans. After all, the place was a living paradise, the residents there were completely unprepared for such an attack, and there would be not much land to cover, as Roo Island was not a particularly large place.

Besides, the dark ones had the Blumaroos outnumbered twenty to one. Even if they tried stopping them, they would be rapidly overwhelmed.

"You are dismissed." With that, the cloaked figure left the room.

"Neopia will soon become a much more nasty place to live in…" With that, the figure on the throne started laughing.

Neopia was in more danger than it had ever been before…

_This does not look good…..in the next chapter we'll get a taste of what the villains are planning to do….please R&R!_


	4. Chapter 4: Evil Everywhere

Saving Neopia

**Chapter 4: Evil Everywhere**

"You ready, partner?" Snotty said to his cellmate, Redtooth the Blue Lupe.

"You bet I am!"

"1, 2, 3." With that, Snotty and Redtooth tipped the cardboard prison over.

"Hooray! We're free!" Snotty exclaimed. "Can we eat that Chia you were talking about now, please?" Redtooth asked to Snotty.

"Relax, you will soon. But for now we need to get off of Roo Island. In case you haven't noticed, we're wanted criminals here." Snotty said to his former cellmate.

"Oh right." Redtooth said.

"Hey, what's going on in here?" the two guards asked, who had suddenly coming into the room. It was then they had noticed that their prisoners had escaped.

"They're getting away! Stop them!" But Snotty and Redtooth were not completely unprepared for such an encounter. They immediately went into fighting positions.

Redtooth lunged at one of the Blumaroo guards, eager to see if he tasted like nachos. The Blumaroo panicked and dropped his weapon, allowing Redtooth to pin him to the ground.

"I want my mommy!" Redtooth clawed and scraped at the Blumaroo, until eventually the guard passed out from being scared half to death.

The other Blumaroo guard didn't fare any better. Snotty pulled out a bunch of cards. The guard initially looked at them in confusion, until Snotty threw them all at him. The Blumaroo guard fell on the floor, unconscious. Turns out the cards in question were razor-sharp.

With both guards knocked out, the two of them gave each other a high-five. "I have to admit, you sure took that guard out quickly." Snotty complimented Redtooth.

"You too. We make quite a team, huh? Now can we please get out of here?" Redtooth politely asked Snotty.

"Sure, gosh you seem awfully polite…unlike that Chia I encountered earlier. She was so rude…." Snotty told his partner.

"I see…anyways where are we going?"

"We're going to Neopia Central." With that, the villainous duo left the island on a speedboat that was conveniently parked outside the castle.

Unknown to the pair though, things were about to get pretty bad for the island, even though that they weren't there at the time…

Cherry the Chia frantically asked Bloony "Are we there yet? Are we there yet?" as they headed towards Bloony's House.

"For the millionth time no! Ugh!" Bloony said as they went to their house.

They eventually did arrive at the house. It was just an ordinary house, unlike King Roo's Castle.

"So this is your house, huh? It seems rather…plain." Cherry told Bloony.

"What were you expecting?" Bloony responded, as he showed her around the place.

He showed her his bedroom, which had a shelf full of books convenient for night-time reading, a bathroom, which had a toilet and a bathtub, a rumpus room (also known simply as his basement), where Bloony could simply relax, an attic where Bloony could climb to the roof, a kitchen where Bloony could fix himself a bite to eat if he was hungry, and finally the roof itself.

"Hmm, interesting…but not as cool as King Roo's Castle itself…" the Chia remarked.

"Mm-hmm." The Blumaroo rolled his eyes.

It was then that they noticed that night had fallen, and it seemed to be raining. They had noticed the storm clouds before, but they hadn't expected them to come this quickly. Something was off here….

They decided to go back indoors. "I wonder how the rainclouds got here so fast?" Cherry asked Bloony.

"Your guess is as good as mine." The storm was already getting pretty bad. They decided they had best remain indoors for the time being.

It was then that they heard a sudden knocking noise. Well, not really knocking, it sounded more like someone was pounding the door with their fists.

"Is someone knocking on the door?" Cherry the Chia asked. Bloony the Blumaroo went to answer it. But when he opened the door, something seemed wrong with the Blumaroo that was trying to get inside.

"Are you trying to get out of the rain? Here let me help y-ACK!"

The Blumaroo that was trying to get inside the house suddenly attacked Bloony. It was then Bloony noticed that the Blumaroo was not an ordinary Blumaroo. He was a zombie Blumaroo!

"AAH! HELP!"

Cherry the Chia heard the cry for help. Seeing the zombie attacking Bloony, Cherry hit it on the head with a vase, knocking it out.

"Thanks…" It was then they noticed that more Blumaroos were heading towards the house. They too looked very different from how Bloony had remembered them….one of them was a vampire, one of them was a mutant, one of them was Darigan, and one of them looked perfectly normal but had a look of rage in his eyes.

"Holy kau! What's going on here?" Bloony and Cherry decided that the first thing first was that they should warn the king of what was going on.

But when they got there past all the normal-turned-monster Blumaroos, they noticed that the king too was looking different from normal. For one thing he was now giant, his eyes were glowing red, and was holding a club.

"RAAA!" the king lunged at Cherry and Bloony. Cherry and Bloony frantically dove out of the way. They attempted to flee the castle, but then noticed that the door had suddenly become locked. Some dark force had locked them inside!

It looked like they had no choice but to try to take the King down. Cherry punched King Roo in the leg, causing him to fall over. Bloony punched the King in the head several times as he stood back up, causing him to nearly fall off the King.

Bloony grabbed on to the King's tail. The King frantically tried to shake him off, which gave Cherry the opportunity to punch his tail several times.

The King was significantly injured at this point, but he was not giving up yet. The King attempted to stomp Cherry and Bloony, who frantically dove out of the way.

Cherry and Bloony working together, managed to climb up the King and kick him in the head. The King tried to shake them off, but they held on.

Bloony then remembered how he had defeated Snotty the Blumaroo, and whacked the king on the head with his book. This really hurt the King, who was already close to losing to fight.

The King knew he couldn't take much more, and starting doing everything he could to take Bloony and Cherry down. He stomped, he swung his tail, he swinged at them with his club. In general he basically launched an all-out assault.

In the end however, it was not enough to defeat them. Bloony and Cherry went on the king's back one last time, and punched him hard, just enough to knock him out.

"Well, looks like we took care of that problem." Bloony remarked. "It's better than that, look!" Cherry the Chia pointed out to Bloony.

Bloony went to look at the king, and noticed that he was slowly turning back to normal. King Roo shrunk and shrunk and shrunk, until finally he was back to normal size.

"Ugh…." King Roo said. "Are you alright, your majesty?" Bloony asked.

"Ugh, please forgive me, you two! I couldn't control myself at all!" King Roo explained to the twosome. "Some dark influence took over me!"

"Why, King, that's horrible!" Cherry agreed.

"We need to find a way out of here before the evil Blumaroos find us!" It was then that the Blumaroos burst down the doors, which had apparently somehow become unlocked.

"Run! There's a boat out in the back you can use to escape the island!" King Roo told Cherry and Bloony.

"But what about you?" Bloony asked.

"I'll be fine! It's you they want! Now go!" With that, the two Neopets went to escape.

They managed to find a boat that of course, looked just like a Blumaroo.

"Hurry up!" Cherry told Bloony. "I am hurrying!"

The evil Blumaroos bust down the doors.

"They're gaining on us!" Cherry told Bloony. Bloony started the engine.

The evil Blumaroos ran towards Cherry and Bloony….

And then the boat took off, leading Cherry and Bloony away from the island. The Blumaroos let out signs of anger as they escaped.

_Meanwhile at the dark castle…_

"Sir, Roo Island has been taken over." The cloaked messenger told the other cloaked figure on the throne.

"Excellent."

"But there's a problem, two of the Neopets on the island at the time weren't affected whatsoever by the spell..."

"That is a problem….tell some of our initiates to find those Neopets and bring them to me…I'll have to see what I can do…"

_Things are starting to get pretty spooky, huh? BTW, in case it's not obvious, the cloaked figure on the throne isn't the Darkest Faerie, it's someone worse….that would be too obvious would it? Please R&R!_


	5. Chapter 5: Arriving At Neopia Central

Saving Neopia

**Chapter 5: Arriving At Neopia**

It wasn't easy for the two Neopets getting to Neopia, as the sea had suddenly gotten treacherous all of a sudden. But miraculously, we managed to get there.

Bloony was upset about what had happened to Roo Island, and Bloony could tell Cherry was as well. What could have happened to it? It seemed like something dark and twisted had infected it….

Bloony also wondered if the king was alright. King Roo had helped them escape the island in the first place. It was the first time he had ever seen him act serious. He had said that he would be fine, but was he really?

I remembered that I needed to take Cherry home, so I decided to do so.

"I appreciate what you've done for me." Cherry said. "I'm just sad that you don't have a home to return to unlike I do…"

"I know…something bad is happening in Neopia…and I don't like it."

"I suppose you could stay with my family if you want…they're always ready to have a new child or something like that…."

"Sure." Bloony followed Cherry inside the house.

Unsurprisingly, her family was made out of Chias. They were all different colors, although I suppose it wasn't too surprisingly.

The oldest Chia, apparently the grandfather of the family, was a Ghost Chia, floating in midair. Bloony was somewhat frightened at first upon seeing him, but he got better.

The father Chia was a Blue Chia, and had a beard. He was standing next to his wife, who was a Yellow Chia.

There was another Chia there, who looked older than Cherry. He was a Green Chia and was wearing a backwards hat.

There was also another Chia, who was clearly younger than Cherry, as he was a Baby Chia. Bloony thought he was simply adorable.

"Wow, you sure have a big family, huh?" Bloony asked to Cherry.

"Yep." Cherry said. She suddenly let out another one of her enormous belches.

"Not in front of the guest, dear!" the mother Chia exclaimed.

"Can't you learn matters for a change? It makes it hard for us to be around you." The Father Chia stated.

"You whippersnapper! Treat your elders with respect!" the Grandfather Chia said.

"I see that you still haven't learned proper etiquette." The older brother Chia said.

The younger baby Chia simply laughed. Apparently he thought it was funny.

"So, it's nice to see you again, Cherry. How'd your trip go?" the father Chia asked.

"I got kidnapped by a crazy Green Blumaroo." The entire family gasped, and the baby Chia started to cry.

"It was no big deal. I got out of there." Cherry said, trying to calm her family down.

"Did he hurt you?" the mother Chia asked.

"No, I'm fine….thanks to this yellow Blumaroo next to me…..I have no idea how he managed to find me though….the Green Blumaroo said that his base would be hidden from the hyperactive Blumaroos…" Cherry once again explained to her family.

"Well, I'm not your typical Blumaroo." Bloony responded.

"Thank you for saving our daughter. Is there anything I can do with you?" the father Chia said.

"Well, I suppose I'll need a place to stay…" Bloony said, deciding not to tell the family about what had happened at his original home, Roo Island.

"Sure, we always have room for one more. We are expecting another child." The mother Chia agreed.

_They're having another child in an already big family? You've got to be kidding me…_ Bloony thought to himself. "Thanks."

Suddenly Bloony noticed that his stomach was rumbling. It had been a while since he had eaten anything…

"Oh dear, you seem to be hungry. Well, that OK, my wife should be making dinner soon…"

And soon enough she did. The whole family began to eat the large amount of food on the table, with Cherry eating like a Snorkle.

"Cherry!" the family exclaimed to the rude Chia. "Sorry!"

_Looks like she has a loving family, just like I did…._Bloony thought.

Soon enough, dinner was over, and the family was ready to go to bed. Bloony asked the father where he was supposed to sleep, who said that his room was in the attic.

Bloony went peacefully off to Dreamland….

As he slept, Bloony wondered who was responsible for whatever had happened to Roo Island. The residents were no longer half as peaceful as they once were before….

And to think they were once his friends and family…..something foul was afoot in Neopia, Bloony could tell that for certain. But what exactly was going on?

The thoughts continued to bother him as he slept. Eventually, he was tossing and turning. Eventually, Cherry came into the attic.

"Bloony, is something the matter?" Cherry asked. "You've been making lots of noises in bed."

"It's just that I still have no idea what exactly happened to my island. Everything's so dark and twisted all of a sudden. I just don't understand it."

"It's OK, I'm sure we'll find out what happened to your island eventually. For now, just relax, OK?" Cherry replied to the insomniac Blumaroo.

"Alright, if you say so." With that Bloony went back to bed.

As it turns out, Bloony would soon find some answers to what he was looking for….but that is a story that will be told another time….

_And so the chapter has ended….and yet I still have a long way to go….please review if you want more!_

_In the next chapter, Bloony will encounter an old "friend" of his….but he won't be alone._


	6. Chapter 6: Recurring Villains

Saving Neopia

**Chapter 6: Recurring Villains**

Bloony woke up, ready for another day.

Cherry was surprisingly, the first one to greet him. "Morning Bloony!"

"Morning Cherry. How's it going?"

"Pretty good."

"So how are you d- Bloony was suddenly interrupted when Cherry went downstairs.

Bloony rolled his eyes. "Well, I suppose I might as well check out Neopia Central. I haven't really been there before."

Bloony looked around. He saw Neopets everywhere, several of which were Blumaroos, just like he was. They all seemed to be going on with their lives, saying hello to each other every once in a while.

"Funny, this is kinda like home…." Bloony said. He noticed that there were several buildings in the area, several of which were stores. Bloony pulled out the Neopoints he had on hand. He had earned quite a few from playing Dice-A-Roo and the generosity of the other Blumaroos.

He decided to spend a few neopoints on weapons, just in case he suddenly was attacked just like he had been at Roo Island.

The weapons he had bought weren't particularly strong, as he didn't want to spend too many Neopoints on protection. After all, there were other shops in the area he could spend them on…

Bloony bought a hamburger at the food shop, hoping that it wasn't actually made of Kaus.

Bloony went on to buy other things, careful not to spend all his Neopoints. It seemed like Neopia Central wanted to eat up all his money….

Bloony saw there was a book store, thinking to himself, _Gosh, I wish there was one of those on Roo Island…._

Bloony read a few of those books after paying for them, feeling surprised when they suddenly disappeared into smoke. "Whoa, that was weird…" Bloony stated.

Bloony also went to watch a movie, finding them worthwhile to watch and rather entertaining. He was just disappointed that he hadn't brought Cherry with him…..

_Maybe some other time…_Bloony thought to himself once again.

Bloony went on to many other buildings, having a good time as he did so. He was enjoying himself quite a bit. The only problem was that his neopoints bag was feeling rather light….he must have been spending a lot….

He decided that maybe he should just call it a day. Maybe he could find a job somewhere and get more Neopoints?

Overall, Bloony thought that his day was perfect, and nothing could possibly go wrong….

And of course, that was when things did start to go wrong. Suddenly out of nowhere Bloony heard the sound of a motorbike. What was going on?

Several Neopets also seemed confused. Bloony saw that there seemed to be two Neopets on top of the motorbike…

The two Neopets removed their helmets, one of which Bloony recognized as Snotty, the Green Blumaroo he encountered earlier.

"Well well, if it isn't for that goody two-shoes that ruined my fun….nice to see you again, Bloony…" Snotty said to Bloony.

Bloony was shocked that Snotty had escaped from prison. Well, not too shocked. "How'd you know my name?"

"Everyone's talking about you, Bloony…they say that you're such a hero….it makes me sick to my stomach. It also makes me angry….well guess what? Now it's time for me to get revenge…." Snotty said with a smile.

"I defeated you once before, Snotty. I can do it again!" Bloony exclaimed.

"What makes you so sure this time? In case you haven't noticed, I've brought a friend to help take you down…." Snotty responded, pointing to the Blue Lupe that was also in the motorcycle.

_This might be a problem, it's 2 against 1..._ Bloony thought.

It was then that Cherry the Chia suddenly came by. "Hey, Bloony! How it's going? I saw that you had left the house and decided to follow you. So what have you been up to? Hey, who are those Neopets riding that cool looking motor-bike?"

Bloony looked at Cherry in horror. "Cherry, get out of here. Now."

But it was too late. "Well well, it looks like you brought a friend to assist you as well. Redtooth, take care of the Chia, will you? It's the Blumaroo I'm after." Snotty told his partner.

"Yes, Snotty." With that, Redtooth lunged towards Cherry, who started running away as fast as her little legs could run.

"Cherry!" Bloony exclaimed.

"Now, let's get on with this, shall we?" With that, Snotty pulled out a mysterious pair of dice.

"What are those?" Bloony asked Snotty.

"Funny you should mention that. These are magical dice….whenever I roll them; something will happen….it all depends on what number they land on….

Snotty rolled the dice, which landed on a 3. "Hmph, not as high as I intended, but I suppose that'll do." Suddenly a Trumpet of Blasting appeared out of nowhere and honked in front of Bloony's face.

"Ow! My ears!" Bloony exclaimed. Bloony responded by hitting Snotty with a Blumaroo Tail of Doom.

"You little…." Snotty grumbled. "Let's see if you're as lucky as you were before." With that, Snotty rolled the dice again.

Meanwhile, Cherry was being chased by Redtooth. "I'm going to eat you for lunch, you little Red Chia!" Redtooth boasted.

"I'd like to see you try!" Cherry taunted. Throwing a rock on the floor, Redtooth tripped straight over it.

"Ow! You little!" Redtooth got himself up and continued chasing Cherry.

Cherry continued running from Redtooth from what seemed to be a long time. Eventually, Redtooth started to get tired.

"Could you….please…slow down…so I can catch you?" Redtooth asked nicely.

"Sorry, no." With that, Redtooth chased Cherry once more.

The chase eventually ended near some buildings. Cherry, suddenly getting an idea, ran into a barbershop.

Redtooth was at a loss at what building Cherry had run inside. He decided to ask a nearby Neopet.

"Excuse me, could you tell me where that Chia went?" Redtooth asked. "I believe she ran into that barbershop."

"Thanks." With that, Redtooth ran into the barbershop.

Redtooth looked around for Cherry, but could not see her anywhere. All he could see were several Neopets getting haircuts.

Suddenly one of the barbers went up to Redtooth. "Excuse me dear sir, but would you like a haircut?"

"Uh, sure…." Redtooth said. "But I'm kinda in a hurry. Won't this cost me Neopoints?"

'Oh, don't worry! This one's on the house!" Redtooth decided he could delay the chase for a while, and sat down in the chair, not expecting what was to come in the slightest….

A few minutes later….

"Voila!" Redtooth opened his eyes and discovered that the barber had shaved off all his fur. "My fur!" With that, the Blue Lupe ran out of the barbershop crying. " I can't be seen without my fur!" Redtooth stated as he ran out of the barbershop.

The barber (who had been Cherry in disguise the whole time) shouted "See you later!"

It was then that suddenly several Neopets suddenly started asking Cherry for a haircut. _Oh brother, what have I gotten myself into? _Cherry thought to herself….

Back at where Bloony and Snotty were standing, Bloony wasn't doing so well. While he had landed several blows of his own in between dice rolls, he had been struck by several different weapons, ranging from a Scroll to the Earth to Ramtor's Spellbook.

Snotty was noticing this, and taunted Bloony. "Not feeling too well, Bloony? Don't worry, this'll be over in just a second." With that, Snotty rolled the die….

And ended up rolling a two. Snotty gasped. "WHAT? HISSI'S EYES? THIS CAN'T BE!"

Bloony noticed the look of horror in Snotty's eyes, and wondered if something good was going to happen.

Soon enough, something good did happen. Out of nowhere a Jade Scorchstone came and healed Bloony, while Snotty was suddenly frozen by a H4000 Helmet.

"Oh dung." Snotty was suddenly bombarded by as many attacks Bloony could muster within the allotted time of the freezing, doing a ton of damage to Snotty. The tables had turned.

Lucky for Snotty, the freezing wore off before Bloony could KO him. "Grr…you win this round, buddy! But this won't be the last you see of me, Bloony! Expect me to be a recurring villain from now on!"

Suddenly Redtooth came running towards Snotty. "Snotty, this is awful! That Red Chia outsmarted me!"

"Good grief Redtooth! What happened to your fur?" Snotty asked Redtooth, noticing that all of his fur was missing.

"There's no time to explain! For now, we need to get out of here!" Snotty agreed, and he and Snotty drove off on a motorbike before Bloony could stop them.

Cherry suddenly returned, with a handful of Neopoints in hand. "So, did I miss anything while I was gone?"

"Not much, I got into a rather strange battle with Snotty….he really likes games…." Bloony answered.

"Well, I got a job at a local barbershop. Apparently a bunch of Neopets like my haircuts…" Cherry told Bloony.

"Why'd you go in the barbershop in the first place? You don't look like you need a haircut." Bloony asked.

"Long story." With that, Bloony and Cherry decided to go back home.

"So, how was your day, your two?" the mother Chia asked.

"Oh nothing much, I went shopping, watched a movie, and Cherry and I got attacked by two really crazy villains." Bloony told the mother Chia with a sense of sarcasm.

"That's horrible! Are you OK?" the mother Chia asked.

"Yeah, we're fine…" Bloony said, deciding not to tell them that Snotty said that the two of them would meet again.

With that, Bloony and Cherry decided to go to bed. Today had been crazy….

_Looks like I have a nemesis…_Bloony thought to himself.

_Hooray! I have a job..._Cherry thought to herself.

With that, the two of them went to bed…unaware what was going to happen tomorrow…

_And so Bloony has a second encounter with Snotty….and Cherry now has an enemy of her own…..what will happen tomorrow? Please R&R!_


	7. Chapter 7: The Cult of Apocalypse

Saving Neopia

**Chapter 7: The Cult of Apocalypse**

Bloony woke up once again, ready for a new day. He went downstairs once again, and decided to watch TV, eager to see what was going on.

Bloony saw that Cherry was watching TV as well. "Hey, did you check out what was on the news?" Cherry asked.

"Not yet, why?"

Bloony and Cherry then turned to watch the television. A Gelert news reporter was on the news, telling current events.

"In recent news, there have been mysterious dark clouds forming over various locations in Neopia. Nobody knows why they have been there, but according to the past, these are a bad omen. In other news, something very strange has happened to the residents of Roo Island."

"Hey, they're talking about your hometown!" Cherry told to Bloony. Bloony frowned.

"The residents there have been acting strangely. They have attacked anyone that has entered the island, and have also oddly changed appearance. The king was nowhere to be found. We shall show the island to you now."

Bloony looked at the island, and saw that it had vastly changed in appearance. It looked rather evil-looking, similar to the Haunted Woods. The King's Castle had fallen into ruin, and several of the buildings were damaged as well.

"In other news, two Neopets have recently been attacked by two other Neopets, who judging from their actions are not in good terms with Neopian law. We shall show you footage of the incident now."

"Whoa! Check it out, we're on TV!" exclaimed Cherry. "I know…." Bloony responded.

"Fortunately, the Neopets are unhurt, and the criminals have left the area. We shall be holding an interview shortly." With that, it turned to commercial.

"Hooray! We're going to be interviewed by news reporters!" Cherry exclaimed. "Seems like we've got into things out of the ordinary a lot lately…." Bloony muttered.

Bloony still wondered what had happened to his island…the residents there had once been so friendly…now they were attacking anyone that wasn't already affected by whatever taint had purged the island….

Little did Bloony and Cherry know that they would be getting answers soon…..

Bloony and Cherry decided to go outside. Cherry had earned several Neopoints, so they were able to buy some things. Bloony and Cherry had a good time together.

Bloony still hadn't explored the entirety of the island, so Cherry showed him around. Cherry showed Bloony the Kadoatery, which was filled with hungry Kadoaties.

Cherry also showed him some other places where he could get food, such as Pizzaroo, which was unsurprisingly, run by a Blumaroo like Bloony himself.

Once again, Bloony had a good time in Neopia Central. It seemed like there was just about everything inside it, from a hot dog stand (run by a Mynci named Herbert) to the Money Tree.

"So, do you like it here, Bloony?" Cherry asked. "Yeah, but I sure miss home…" Bloony replied. "Don't worry. I'm sure we'll find a way to get you back eventually…"

"Thanks." Bloony wondered if there was a way that they could free the Blumaroos from whatever had happened to them….

_Meanwhile, at a Slorg-infested abandoned house…._

"This rots, Redtooth! I can't believe that yellow Blumaroo bested me again!" Snotty grumbled.

"I know…that Red Chia managed to best me too. How could I have fallen for a trick like that?" Redtooth wondered.

"We'll get revenge on them some day….for now let's look for someone that can help us with our schemes…." Snotty recommended.

"Like….what?"

"Well, I was planning on robbing the Neopian National Bank….but that might be a bit difficult….we could also try robbing the Money Tree!"

"Oh yeah!" Redtooth exclaimed. "But what if we encounter those annoying Neopets again?"

"We'll beat them up to make sure they won't bother us….but like I said, that can wait. We should look for somebody for help….that way it'll be three of us against that obnoxious Blumaroo and his little Chia friend."

"Good thinking…but where should we start?"

"I say we look for somebody that would be dumb enough for us to easily manipulate…" Snotty plotted. "And somebody that would be strong enough to beat whoever bothered us in a jiffy!"

"Ah, I like the sound of that…" Redtooth replied.

"I think that maybe we should go to Tyrannia….it's filled with residents that would serve as dumb muscle…."

"Sounds good!" With that, the two of them started laughing, a very evil laugh…..

It looked like that Snotty and his friend were up to no good once again…..

_Back at Neopia Central….._

"So, do you think we'll run into Snotty and his partner again?" Cherry asked Bloony.

"Probably…..Snotty did say that he was going to be a recurring villain…."

"What's that?" Cherry asked.

"Simple really. A recurring villain is a villain, who for some reason, comes back to pester the hero again and again." Bloony told Cherry.

"Sounds kind of annoying." Cherry said.

"Yes, I know. Fortunately, a recurring villain usually gets theirs eventually….although they may turn good and decide to join the heroes…." Bloony once again told Cherry.

"Sounds kind of unbelievable…." Cherry said incredulously.

"Believe me; it happens more often than you think. In fact, the only villain I could think of that wouldn't do something like that is known as a Complete Monster…."

"What's a Complete Monster?" Cherry once again asked curiously.

"It's quite simple really. A Complete Monster is a villain who does terrible, terrible things, in general, there's nothing that this type of villain wouldn't commit."

"Even destroy all of Neopia?"

"Yes, if they felt like it and had the capability of doing so, they would probably do something like that."

"I see…"

"Now then, where were we? Ah yes. A Complete Monster doesn't have adequate justification for their misdeeds, nor do they care about what happens as a result. They are so evil that even other villains tend to despise them, or at the very least take them seriously."

"Gosh, they're that evil?" Cherry asked.

"Yep. Finally, they must have no chance for redemption. They're so evil that the only thing to do with them is to make them disappear completely."

"Yikes."

"So there you have it. Now where were we? Weren't we enjoying our day?" Bloony told Cherry.

"Yes we were. It's so nice too…I don't think anything can go w-"

"Don't jinx it, Cherry!" Bloony exclaimed. But it was too late, for at that moment, the two of them noticed several strange cloaked figures near Neopets. Bloony and Cherry went into the bushes to see what was going on.

"Excuse me, have you seen these two Neopets?" one of them, apparently their leader, asked, pulling out a piece of paper with a Yellow Blumaroo and a Red Chia on it.

"Why yes, I saw them on news today." A blue Kacheek replied, telling the cloaked figure what he knew about them.

"Thank you, that's very useful information." With that, the cloaked figure along with his cohorts began to leave.

"Wait, who are you guys?" another one of the Neopets, a Green Skeith asked.

"Well, if you must know, you Neopets….we are all members of the Cult of the Apocalypse, an organization that will bring around a new world….." the cult member replied. "That's all I can tell you, though, so don't ask me any more information." With that, they started walking off once more.

"The Cult of the Apocalypse, huh? Who are those guys?" Cherry wondered.

"I don't know….didn't they say that they would bring around a new world? I wonder if they have anything to do with what happened to my home…." Bloony wondered also.

Unfortunately, one of the cloaked members spotted Bloony and Cherry. "Hey, I think I found who we're looking for!" he exclaimed to the others.

The cloaked member removed his hood, revealing that he was a Red Elephante. "Well well, if it isn't the ones that escaped from Roo Island! Get them, boys!" With that, the cult members removed their hoods, revealing that they were Neopets as well, some of them pulled out various Battledome weapons, and attacked!

Bloony and Cherry prepared to fight for their lives. Bloony punched a cloaked Grarrl in the face, knocking him over. Cherry kicked another member, a Blue Nimmo, in the legs, causing him to fall over as well.

Bloony and Cherry continued fighting them, and oddly enough, they seemed to be winning. Several of the cult members were sitting on the floor, with stars circling over their heads.

The Elephante noticed as well, and thought to himself _Perhaps it's time I changed tactics….._With that, he pulled out a dagger and slowly crept towards the two Neopets.

Meanwhile, Bloony and Cherry were still fighting the cloaked Neopets. "Gosh, these guys sure don't know when to quit, huh?" Cherry told Bloony.

"They certainly don't…" Cherry and Bloony kept fighting, doing well despite being outnumbered.

Eventually, they had managed to win, or so they had thought….

"They sure weren't so tough huh Cherry? Um, Cherry?" Bloony turned around and saw Cherry was being held by the Red Elephante with one of his hands (do Elephante have hands), with the other holding a dagger right near her.

The Red Elephante began to speak to Bloony. "Ah yes, now where were, yellow Blumaroo? Ah yes-"

"Let me guess, you're going to cut my friend unless I surrender and comply with whatever demands you may have." Bloony told the Elephante.

"How'd you guess?" the Red Elephante asked.

"Believe me; I've seen it all before…" Bloony rolled his eyes.

"Right, so what's it going to be?" the red Elephante told Bloony.

Bloony turned his eyes in the other direction. "I suppose only a convenient plot device could save me now…."

"Like what?" It was then that something happened.

Boochi, a baby Bruce, suddenly came out of the bushes. Firing his ray gun, he blasted the Red Elephante.

"Oh dung! Not now! I have a mission to c-" Without completing his sentence, the Red Elephante turned into a baby, dropping his dagger and letting go of Cherry in the process.

"Awww, he's so cute as a baby!" Cherry exclaimed.

"Are you hurt?" Bloony asked.

"Not really. Phew, that Red Elephante sure was smarter than his cohorts, huh?" Cherry commented.

"Yep, he sure was. I'm just glad that we were saved by a random event…"

Suddenly, Bloony noticed that there was a note on the ground. "Huh? What's this?"

Bloony looked on the ground, and saw what was written on it. Apparently, Boochi would be waiting for him at a place called the Battledome.

"The Battledome? What's that?" Bloony asked.

"It's a place where you can fight various opponents in an entertaining match." Cherry told Bloony.

"Normally I wouldn't approve of such violence…but seeing though we're being attacked by various scoundrels, where do I go?" Bloony asked.

"Oh there's several….in fact, there's one of them right in Neopia Central itself…" Cherry told Bloony.

"Good to know." With that, Bloony followed Cherry.

_Back at the dark castle…._

"I'm sorry; sir, but we couldn't do it! Those two Neopets were too strong!" one of the cloaked figures that had escaped the battle to report to his master said.

"Come here, my minion…." The cloaked figure on the throne beckoned.

As soon as the cloaked minion went up to the throne, the leader of the Cult of the Apocalypse himself stood up, transformed into a giant Hissi, and swallowed the minion whole.

"Don't you think that was a little harsh?" the cloaked messenger that had previously given the cult leader information asked. The cloaked messenger in question wore a mask, and spoke in a metallic voice.

"I made it very clear to him not to fail me. Go get the mad doctor; he'll know what to do…." With that, the cloaked figure left the throne room.

"What peculiar Neopets….being capable of defeating some of my loyal followers…." The cult leader went back to his throne and was silent.

_Did you enjoy this chapter? They seem to be getting longer and longer…. In the next chapter, a new character will join the cast….please R&R!_


	8. Chapter 8: The Battledome

Saving Neopia

**Chapter 8: The Battledome**

_Meanwhile, at a jungle at Mystery Island…._

Several Myncis were playing on the vines, swinging from one to another in rapid succession.

"Woohoo! This is fun!" One exclaimed.

"Hey, have you seen Marvin?" another explained.

One of the Myncis slid down the vine. "I'll go look for him." With that, the Mynci went off to search for him.

Soon enough, the Mynci found him at his house, which was shaped like a Mynci's head. He was busy playing a video game.

"Hey, Marvin, what are you doing? I thought you were going to go play outside." The Mynci asked.

"Maybe later, right now I'm playing this cool game." The Mynci named Marvin told his friend.

"Alright, suit yourself." With that, the Mynci left the house.

The Mynci kept playing video games. For some reason, unlike the other Myncis, he was not very good at vine swinging. Whenever he tried doing that, he would often fall and hurt himself.

He really did not understand this. _How come I'm so different? _

Aside from this little detail, Marvin the Mynci also liked building various machines. The other Myncis would often try to use the technology, but for some reason they would always end up damaging it. Marvin wondered why this was.

In fact, recently he had been working on a device that would allow him to leave Mystery Island and go elsewhere. He wondered if he would find anyone that had similar interests with him….

Overall, he was a very intelligent Neopet, even though he would often be seen playing a computer game on the Internet.

He was just working on the finishing touches for his device when another Mynci walked in.

"Hey Marvin, what are you doing?" the Mynci asked.

"I'm a little busy. I'm working on this machine that will allow me to travel from Mystery Island to other places."

"Cool? Can I try?" the other Mynci asked Marvin.

"Sorry, no. It's still in testing phases. I need to make sure this device actually works."

"Alright." The Mynci said, disappointed. He went back into the jungle along with his friends.

"And, done!" Marvin the Mynci had finished his invention. He had built it using various things around the jungle, from coconuts to tree bark. And it looked ready to go.

Marvin the Mynci poured some coconut juice to provide some fuel, and turned on the engine.

Before leaving though, he decided to say farewell to his fellow Myncis, just to let them know where he was going.

"Attention fellow Myncis!" Marvin stated, holding a loudspeaker. The other Myncis stopped what they were doing and looked at Marvin. "I just wanted to let you guys know that I will be leaving shortly. I should be back within a few days."

"Where will you going?" one of the Myncis asked.

"I shall be heading towards Neopia Central, just to see what its like."

"Alright, if you say so…"

With that, Marvin the Mynci took off in his machine, which worked surprisingly well considering that it was his first time using it.

As Marvin the Mynci left, one of the Myncis noticed that there seemed to be dark clouds forming over Mystery Island.

"Oh look, I think it's going to rain…." One of the Myncis stated.

_At the Battledome…._

"So let me get this straight, this is where Neopets come to fight each other, am I correct?" Bloony asked as Cherry escorted him to the Battledome.

"Of course it is! This is where citizens of Neopia from all over come to battle…..it's quite an exciting place really!" Cherry told Bloony.

"OK…..I take it this is where we would get some much-needed combat practice?" Bloony told Cherry.

"I guess so….." Cherry told Bloony.

"Mm-hmm. I guess we should register as a tag team then…." Bloony stated to Cherry.

"There are also prizes for participating in the Battledome too! Neopoints, items…" Cherry told Bloony.

"Sounds interesting….we could get a lot of cool stuff this way, huh?" Bloony asked Cherry.

"Yep! We can register right over there…." Cherry pointed at the Techo, who was accepting registrations.

"Hello, what can I help you with? Would you like to enter the Battledome? Or are you here simply to watch?" the Techo asked.

"We'd like to enter the Battledome as a tag team…." Bloony told the Techo.

"Mm-hmm. I'll explain how the Battledome works. You will fight a Battledome opponent selected among several other challengers, each one having different weapons and abilities. The fight will go on until you or your opponent is unable to fight anymore, in this case the other opponent is the winner. Seem simple enough?"

"Right, got that, anything else?" Bloony asked.

"That's pretty much it. Go over there where the other fighters are seated, if you please." With that, Bloony and Cherry went into the waiting room.

Inside, Bloony and Cherry saw several other Neopets and other races inside, several of which Bloony recognized from the Gallery of Evil. What were they doing there?

"Whoa, look at all these challengers…." Cherry stated.

"Hey watch it, Chia! You should be glad I'm not allowed to eat other challengers…" Balthazar stated to Cherry.

"Yikes! It's Balthazar the Faerie Collector!" Cherry told Bloony.

"I know, looks like he's been fighting in the Battledome for quite some time, from the looks of it." Bloony nodded. "I sure hope we won't have to face him…"

Soon enough they were called up in the arena. "Wonder who we'll have to face?" Cherry asked.

A Skeith dressed in black clothing came up to them. "You're up against the Chia Clown." He told the two Neopets.

As if on cue, one of the challengers rose up from his seat. "Oh boy! I'm going to enjoy this!" stated the Chia Clown.

"Looks like we're up against him, huh?" Bloony told Cherry. "He doesn't look so tough…."

Soon enough the black Skeith took them to the arena. Up above, the announcer spoke in a loud voice "Here are the challengers!"

The audience clapped and cheered.

"In this corner, we have a yellow Blumaroo and his friend, who are participating as a tag team! Let us hear it for Bloony and Cherry!"

The audience clapped and cheered again.

"Wow, they sure like us already!" Cherry stated.

"And in this corner, we have the Chia Clown, ready to make you smile!"

Chia Clown rode in his clown car. "Honk honk!" he stated.

The audience clapped and cheered once more.

"On the count of 3, 2, 1…fight!" the announcer said.

The Chia Clown suddenly lunged at Bloony and Cherry with his clown car. Bloony and Cherry jumped out of the way.

"This is too easy!" the Chia Clown taunted, apparently expecting that he would win this without a problem.

"You spoke too soon." Bloony responded, deflating his clown car tires with some nails.

"My clown car! Grrr! You're lucky I have car insurance!" The Chia Clown pulled out a bottle of seltzer, and started squirting Bloony with it.

"Hey! Quit it!" Bloony exclaimed. Cherry punched the Chia Clown in the face.

"Ow! Oh look, a fellow Chia, eh? I know what to do with you…." The Chia Clown inflated a balloon, held it up to Cherry, and burst it in front of her face.

"Ouch!" Cherry stated. Bloony took the opportunity to push the Chia Clown over, followed by jumping up and down on him.

"You're going to be black and blue once I'm through with you!" The Chia Clown got up, and threw a pie at Bloony's face, which Cherry eagerly licked off of him.

"Ugh…" Bloony, apparently tired of the Chia Clown's crazy antics, hit him on the head with a club.

"I'm getting dizzy…." The Chia Clown had stars over his eyes. Apparently he had gotten a concussion from getting hit on the head with the blunt weapon. Cherry took the opportunity to push him over once more. The Chia Clown was unable to get up this time around.

A referee came by almost as soon as this happened. "1, 2, 3!" The Chia Clown still did not get up. It looked like he was down for the count.

"Bloony and Cherry are our winners!" The audience clapped and cheered once more.

Bloony and Cherry went back to the lobby, where they received 1000 NP.

"Wow, all this just for our first fight!" Cherry stated.

"Yep, you feeling more experienced?" Bloony asked.

"I guess so. Gosh, this sure is enjoyable, huh? I haven't really been here before…" Cherry nodded.

"Mm-hmm. I'm just glad nobody had to go to the hospital…." Bloony said to himself.

_Meanwhile at Snotty's hideout…._

Snotty and Redtooth were sitting on a chair, watching TV.

"Hey, Redtooth, let's change the channel to the Battledome Channel! It's fun watching Neopets beat the crud out of each other!" Snotty recommended to his partner.

"Sure thing." Redtooth pulled out a remote and changed the channel.

Much to their annoyance, they saw that Bloony and Cherry were on TV. Apparently they had won their first fight in the Battledome.

"Gosh dang it! First they appear on the news, now this!" Snotty spat.

"I know right? We really need to teach those losers a lesson…." Redtooth agreed.

"Oh, I know! Let's enter the Battledome ourselves! That way we can get rich and beat up those pesky Neopets at the same time!" Snotty deviously grinned.

"Sounds good! Do you think they're still signing up?" Redtooth wondered.

"Of course they are! They're always willing to put a bunch of fighters in the Battledome. The crowd loves it when new challengers appear!" Snotty told his partner.

"Alright, if you say so…." Redtooth listened.

With that, the two of them left the house to enter the Battledome. But Snotty wanted to make a little stop first….

_Meanwhile at the dark castle…._

Professor Nyctus, a Yellow Korbat mad scientist, was studying several Petpets the members of the Cult of Apocalypse had brought in for his experiments.

"Ah, let's see what this does…" Nyctus curiously said, injecting a chemical into a Puppyblew.

The Puppyblew suddenly started tap dancing, apparently as a side effect of being injected by the chemical.

"Oh Steven!" The professor beckoned for his assistant.

"Yes professor?" Professor Nyctus's assistant was a Green Xweetok, who was wearing a lab coat just like the professor himself.

"I need you to get some more of my chemicals for me….this experiment is proving to be quite intriguing!" Professor Nyctus told his assistant.

"Yes professor." With that, Steven went off to collect some more chemicals.

It was at that moment that Lord Cataclysm (the leader of the Cult of Apocalypse)'s messenger and right-hand arrived in the laboratory, on an errand for his master.

"Well well! If it isn't for Fallennova, our lord's foremost servant! What brings you here to my laboratory?" the mad doctor stated.

"My lord wants you to do something about these two Neopets that have been posing a problem for us lately." The high-ranking official of the Cult of Apocalypse told the professor.

"He wants me to do something? Why doesn't Lord Cataclysm just send some of our less noteworthy followers after them?" the professor asked.

"He already tried that. It didn't go too well." Fallenova told Nyctus.

"Ah I see….well; I suppose I could send one of my failed creations after them…." Nyctus responded, directing his wing toward a cage with a mutated monster inside.

"I see….will this monster kill them? I believe that my master wants them alive."

"Oh no! Not at all! See, I've injected this monster with a mind control serum that should keep the monster very well under control long enough for it to capture the Neopets and bring them here!"

"Good. Do as you wish with the Neopets, just make sure they come back here alive." With that, Fallenova left the laboratory.

As he left, Fallenova pulled out a mirror. "Funny, I can't really see my face while wearing this mask, oh well." With that, he threw the mirror away.

_It looks like the Cult of Apocalypse are up to something again…will our heroes escape the clutches of the nasty mutant? We'll have to wait and see…don't forget to review!_


	9. Chapter 9: Marvin The Mynci

Saving Neopia

**Chapter 9: Marvin The Mynci**

Cherry and Bloony had just left the Battledome, with a handful of Neopoints in hand.

"That was fun huh, Bloony?" Cherry asked.

"I guess so…" Bloony replied.

It was then that they noticed that there seemed to be a star in the sky...

"Wow, that star sure is big huh…." Cherry commented.

It was then they noticed that the star seemed to be getting bigger.

"Hmm, something seems off with it…" Bloony noticed.

It was then they noticed that it wasn't a star but it was in fact a flaming object heading straight towards them.

"Aah! Hit the deck!" Cherry exclaimed. Cherry and Bloony immediately jumped out of the way.

The flaming object hit the ground in a big explosion.

"What was that thing?" Cherry asked.

"I dunno." It was then that Bloony heard noises coming from the object.

Bloony and Cherry took a closer look at it. It was apparently an aircraft of some kind, and there was a green Mynci inside!

"Whoa! It's a space alien!" Cherry exclaimed.

"A space alien? Where?" the Mynci demanded to know.

"What are you doing here?" Bloony asked.

"Well first of all, my name is Marvin. I came here from Mystery Island so I could check out Neopia Central. Unfortunately the machine I used to get here broke down…." Marvin the Mynci explained.

"Oh dear. Where'd you get it?" Bloony asked.

"I made it myself." Marvin told the others.

"Wow! That sure is a fine piece of machinery you made there!" Cherry remarked.

"Mm-hmm, now could you help me get up? I'm still dizzy from the crash." Marvin asked.

Bloony and Cherry helped Marvin get out of the spaceship.

"Thanks….now where am I?" Marvin the Mynci looked around. He saw that he was outside the Battledome.

"Sweet! I'm outside the Battledome! I've heard of this place! It rocks!" Marvin the Mynci exclaimed.

"Yeah, we were just in there." Bloony told Marvin.

"Cool! Did you participate in the Battledome?" Marvin asked Bloony.

"Yes, my friend Cherry here and I entered the Battledome as a tag team, why?"

"Alright! Can I join your team?" Marvin asked.

Bloony took out a book explaining the rules of the Battledome. Apparently, there was nothing there about adding a new member to your team, so Bloony decided to allow him inside.

"So, what can you do?" Cherry asked.

"Well, I'm capable of building technology…" Marvin stated, building a pair of wooden guns that shot out peanuts.

"Alright, I suppose we can let you in…." Bloony told Marvin. "Just try not to get beat up…."

"Thank you!" Marvin was apparently quite happy that they had allowed him inside.

_I wonder if we made the right choice…_Bloony thought to himself as they reentered the Battledome for their next match.

Bloony looked at Cherry, who simply seemed happy that they had someone else to help them this time in the Battledome.

_Meh, I suppose if Cherry and Marvin are happy I suppose I am..._Bloony thought to himself again.

"By the way, what should we call ourselves?" Marvin asked. "We seem to be a trio now…"

"Hmm….I suppose we can call ourselves the Heroes of Light…" Bloony rolled his eyes.

"Sounds good!"

And so the team now had its own official name…

_This is turning out be quite interesting…_Bloony thought.

_Hooray! We have a new member..._Cherry thought.

_I'm part of a team..._Marvin thought.

_At a jungle in Tyrannia…._

"So why are we here, again?" Redtooth asked Snotty. "I thought we were going to the Battledome…."

"We're just making a little stop first….it'd probably be helpful if we could find a new member to add to our team…." Snotty remarked.

"Alright, if you say so…." Redtooth told his partner.

Snotty looked around Tyrannia, seeing several Tyrannian Neopets doing various things, many of which involved using a lot of strength, such as lifting a rather large stone. They all seemed to be fairly ideal to serve as dumb muscle….but he didn't know who to choose….

Until he saw a Tyrannian Mynci kicking down a monument.

"Ugga ugga ugga!" an angry Tyrannian Kougra explained. He had apparently worked hard on it.

The Tyrannian Mynci simply kicked him to the ground.

It was then that Snotty found who he was looking for. "Hey, little Mynci, come here for a second…."

"Ug?" The Tyrannian Mynci seemed confused, but did what Snotty told him nonetheless.

Snotty gave him a translation device, which allowed the Tyrannian Mynci to speak legibly, although he still often spoke in broken English.

"Would you like to join our team, little Mynci? You'll get to beat LOTS of losers to the ground….particularly two Neopets I really don't like…." Snotty asked the Mynci.

"Uh, sure…." The Tyrannian Mynci said.

"So, what's your name little Mynci? You can call us Snotty and Redtooth respectively…" Redtooth told the Mynci.

"Me name's Rocky, Lupe. So when we gonna break things?" Rocky asked.

"Right now!" Snotty exclaimed. With that, the three Neopets started causing untold chaos in Tyrannia, destroying various things and attacking anyone that tried to stop them.

Eventually, they had caused about a million or so Neopoints of damage to Tyrannia. The damage would take quite some time to undo.

"Wow! That fun! Let do it again!" Rocky told the two.

"Maybe some other time. For now, I'm heading to get revenge on some goody two-shoes…." Snotty told Rocky.

"By the way, now that we're a trio, do you think we should call ourselves something?" Redtooth asked.

"Mm-hmm…..for now on, we shall be known as….the Villains of Darkness!"

And so another team now had its own official name….

_Finally, now I can get my revenge…_Snotty thought.

_We have a new member now! Hooray..._Redtooth thought.

_Rocky love smashing things...Rocky thought._

_Back at the Battledome…._

"So let me get this straight…..you're adding a new member to your team to help you out at the Battledome?" the Techo in charge of the Battledome in Neopia Central asked.

"Yep! We even have our own official name for our team now! We're known as the Heroes of Light!" Cherry eagerly told the Techo.

"Heroes of Light, huh? That's a new one….Well, there's nothing in the rules about adding a new member to your team, so you can go right ahead. Just make sure none of your team members get too badly injured, we're not responsible for whatever happens to our fighters." The Techo told them.

_Not responsible, eh? That doesn't sound too good….._Bloony thought to himself.

"Anyways, take your seats…we should have a new opponent for you soon…."

With that, Bloony, Cherry, and Marvin all entered the lounge….

"Who do you think we'll have to face this time?" Cherry asked.

"I don't know…." Bloony said.

"Wow, look at all these fighters!" Marvin said as he looked around.

"Ah yes, for some reason a lot of Neopets like entering the Battledome…" Bloony told them.

It took a while, but eventually they were called up. "The Heroes of Light, are you not?" the Neopet in Black asked them. "You're up against Boochi."

"Boochi, eh? Isn't he the one who saved us when we were in the frying pan?" Cherry told Bloony.

"Yes he was…looks like he likes participating in the Battledome too…." Bloony commented.

Once again Bloony and Cherry entered the arena, this time accompanied by Marvin.

Once again, the announcer introduced the fighters, this time introducing Marvin the Mynci as well.

"Looks like they're quite fond of us, huh?" Cherry noticed.

"And in this corner, we have the baby Bruce who loves to zap Neopets, Boochi!" With that, Boochi suddenly came into the arena.

And once again our heroes were in for a fight that they would remember….

Boochi started the battle by zapping Cherry with his ray gun, which had a strange effect on her.

"That's weird…I feel kind of funny…." With that, Cherry suddenly turned into a cute little baby.

"Oh no!" Marvin the Mynci explained.

"Cherry's parents aren't going to be happy about this…" Bloony told Marvin.

Marvin the Mynci fired a tiki bomb at Boochi, which seemed to have done a lot of damage.

"Wah! No fair!" Boochi exclaimed. He hit Marvin on the head with his rattle.

"Ow! You're giving me a headache…" Marvin told Boochi.

Boochi fired his Ultra Bubble Beam at Marvin, but Marvin burst them with a weapon of his own.

"You're getting on my nerves!" Boochi exclaimed.

"So are you!" Marvin told the baby Bruce.

Bloony picked up Cherry and took her someplace where she wouldn't be hurt.

"I sure hope this is only temporary…" Bloony thought to himself.

Marvin kept attacking Boochi, who wasn't doing so well. Boochi tried squirting his bottle of milk in Marvin's face, but it didn't do much damage.

"You'll have to do better than that!" Marvin told Boochi, who followed by hitting him on the head with a wrench.

Boochi tried zapping Marvin with his ray gun just as he zapped Cherry, but Marvin wasn't going to have any of it.

"You're not turning me into a toddler!" Marvin taunted Boochi. Marvin then kicked Boochi away.

"WAH! I can't take it anymore!" With that, Boochi left the arena.

"The Heroes of Light win by forfeit!" the heroes exclaimed.

With that, Cherry suddenly turned back to normal…."Ugh…what happened?" Cherry asked. Apparently, she hadn't remembered getting turned into an infant Neopet.

"You got turned into a baby by Boochi." Bloony told her.

"Ah yes, he seems to love doing that…" Cherry stated.

Once again the three of them received a helping of Neopoints, this time a bit more than before.

"Nice!" Marvin exclaimed….

_Meanwhile at the Battledome Reception Center…._

The Techo was waiting for a new Battledome challenger to show up. _Gosh, there sure seem to be a lot of Battledome challengers today…at least I won't get bored._

It was then that suddenly three other Neopets came in….

"Excuse me, can I help you?" the Techo asked.

The Techo's question was answered when Rocky the Tyrannian Mynci hit the Techo on the head with his club, knocking him out cold.

"Alright! Let's see what the current Battledome schedule is!"

The three scoundrel Neopets searched the Techo's desk. Soon enough they found something useful.

"I found a schedule, guys. It says here that our little Neopets here are up against Harry the Mutant Moehog." Redtooth told them.

"Then we'll just have to come in after them after they're done…." Snotty told them.

And so another one of their plans for revenge began….

_The Heroes of Light are doing well in Battledome, but can they defeat the Villains of Darkness once more? We'll have to wait and see…._

_Don't forget to write a review!_


	10. Chapter 10: Snotty's Revenge

Saving Neopia

**Chapter 10: Snotty's Revenge**

The Heroes of Light were at the Battledome once again. This time they were up against Harry the Mutant Moehog. They had fought several Neopets now, getting higher and higher in the ranks of the Battledome tournament.

"We sure are doing great, huh Bloony!" Cherry the Chia told Bloony.

"We sure are, Cherry…perhaps we can defeat the champion? I'm not even sure who the champion is to be honest…probably someone tough…"

Harry the Mutant Moehog charged at the three heroes, but they simply dove out of their way.

"Hold still!" Harry the Mutant Moehog was not doing so well in the fight. He had tried hitting them with their tail, stepping on them, and other things, but they kept dodging.

"Let's finish this, shall we?" With that, Marvin the Mynci blasted Harry the Mutant Moehog with a bazooka, which just so happened to fire water bottles.

"AARGH!" Harry the Mutant Moehog fell on the floor, defeated.

"And the winners are the Heroes of Light!" the announcer declared.

"Mm-hmm…" Bloony thought.

"There's nothing that stands a chance against us!" Marvin the Mynci declared.

And it was then that suddenly the gate to the Battledome suddenly crashed down.

"Whoa! It looks like somebody wants to pick a fight against the Heroes of Light!" the announcer said.

"Who are these guys?" Marvin the Mynci asked.

"Let's just say that we entered the Battledome for a reason other than for Neopoints…" Bloony subtly told him.

"Hello, Bloony! Surprised to see us? Don't be. We've been plotting this for quite some time…we even got a new member to the team…just to make sure we take out you losers once and for all!" Snotty told his Heroes of Light counterpart.

It was that moment that Bloony and Cherry noticed the Tyrannian Mynci that was with them.

"You two know each other?" Marvin the Mynci asked his friend.

"Believe me, we've known each other for a while…" Bloony told Marvin.

Suddenly Rocky swung at Marvin the Mynci with his club.

"Hey! What's the big idea?" Marvin the Mynci asked his Villains of Darkness counterpart.

"Rocky's going to crush you for Snotty!" Rocky exclaimed, trying to hit the head of the intelligent Green Mynci.

"You don't seem to be very smart…" Marvin the Mynci commented. "Want to play a video game? Perhaps we can talk things o-" Marvin the Mynci was suddenly interrupted when Rocky crushed his Game Child Advance.

"Rocky hate video games! They too difficult!" Rocky angrily told Marvin.

"I PAID A LOT OF NEOPOINTS FOR THAT!" With that, a major fight between the two Neopets began.

Of course, Marvin and Rocky weren't the only ones fighting. Cherry was once again running away from Redtooth.

"There's no way out this time, Cherry! In case you haven't noticed, we're in an arena!" Redtooth taunted Cherry.

"I see you've been learning our identities…" Cherry replied as Redtooth pounced on top of her.

"Give up now!" Redtooth exclaimed, preparing to take a bite out of Cherry.

It was then that Cherry suddenly released an enormous burp that sent Redtooth flying.

"AAH!" Redtooth exclaimed, as he was flung into a wall. "What in Neopia?"

"I didn't know I could make burps that big…" Cherry sweat dropped.

At another point in the Battledome arena, the two Neopets that were leaders of their respective teams were duking it out. This time, Snotty had a strange lottery machine. Snotty pulled the lever, and it came out on three rockets.

"What the-" Bloony suddenly found himself tied to a rocket that would shortly launch. If Bloony were a human, he'd be in pretty deep dung. But since Bloony was a Blumaroo, it was a simple matter of using whatever he had and his muscles to break free. He managed to do so just a few seconds before the rocket went up in the air.

"Hmph." Snotty pulled the lever again, this time landing on three balloons.

Bloony suddenly started inflating. Eventually he popped, turning back to normal but taking damage in the process.

"Had enough, Bloony? Rest assured this lottery device can do many things…" Snotty taunted Bloony.

Bloony wasn't amused by Snotty's crazy fighting style, and grabbed him by the tail.

"HEY! Let go!" Bloony swung him around a bit, making him dizzy.

"I'm getting dizzy!" With that, Bloony threw him into a wall.

"You'll pay for that!" Snotty angrily exclaimed. He went back to his lottery machine, and picked it up, wondering what he would land on next.

_Where the audience members were seated…_

"What the heck are you doing?" Marvin asked. Rocky had suddenly started using the audience members as weapons, much to their panic.

"Improvising!" Rocky swung at Marvin with the Neopet that he had grabbed, content on defeating the newest member of the Heroes of Light.

"I've had enough!" Marvin pulled out a unripe Bagguss, which he threw at Rocky's face.

"YUCK! That stinks!" Rocky clutched his nose.

Marvin kicked Rocky several times, eventually causing him to fall off where the audiences were seated, which unfortunately for him was a fairly long way.

"AAH!" Rocky hit the ground very hard, even leaving a dent in the floor. "Oww…."

"That was for my Game Child Advance!" Marvin attempted to justify his actions.

"I see pretty stars…" With that, Rocky passed out on the floor.

"I wonder how the others are doing." Marvin wondered.

As it turns out, the other two members of the Heroes of Light and the Villains of Darkness were still at it. Redtooth and Cherry had been fighting for a while, with the Blue Lupe still trying to eat the Red Chia.

"Let's see if you actually taste like a cherry, shall we little Chia? I've been looking forward to eating you for a while…." Redtooth told his nemesis.

"Don't even think about it!" With that, Cherry the Chia punched Redtooth in the face, who quickly stood his ground.

Redtooth, still paying attention to his hygiene even during battle, stopped to remove some Mootix that were in his fur, which was enough time for Cherry the Chia to bite his hairy tail.

"Let go!" Redtooth demanded. Redtooth angrily tried to shake Cherry off.

This of course, only caused Cherry to stay on longer. "I'm not letting you eat me!" Cherry told him.

Redtooth kept trying to swing Cherry off, but in the process he once again made a major mistake. He did not watch where he was going.

Redtooth suddenly crashed into the wall, and very hard, no less. Stars suddenly started appearing around the Lupe's head.

"This isn't over little Neopet…make no mistake…" With that, Redtooth passed out on the ground and was silent.

"Hooray! I beat that rotten Blue Lupe again!" With that, Cherry started doing a little dance, but she too wondered how her teammates were doing.

"Maybe I should go and help them out…nah, I'm sure they'll be fine." With that, Cherry started doing the strange dance of hers once more.

Snotty pulled the lever once more. This time, it landed on three jackpot symbols. "Ah sweet! I've got the jackpot! You're in trouble now!" Snotty happily exclaimed.

"This can't be good…" Bloony thought. With that, a giant tidal wave of Neopoints suddenly came towards Bloony.

However, this actually worked in Bloony's favor. Bloony dove out of the way, while Snotty, laughing maniacally, failed to notice that the giant tidal wave was heading towards him.

"Hahahaha-huh? Oh d-" With that, Snotty was suddenly hit by the tons of Neopoints, which was more than enough to beat him up silly and knock him out cold.

"How could this happen? How could my own weapon be used against me?" Snotty said right before being KOed.

"You always were obsessed with luck and chance…" Bloony commented.

Not long after the Heroes of Light defeated the Villains of Darkness for the third time, security came in, led by the Techo receptionist.

"Security! These three Neopets hit me on the head and entered the Battledome without authorization!"

The security Neopets immediately arrived and took the three knocked out Neopets away, undoubtedly to be kicked out of the building.

"Phew….you sure have a bunch of crazy enemies, huh?" Marvin the Mynci told the two Neopets.

"Ah yes, they seem to be recruiting members just as we are…we better be on our guard in case anything happens…." Bloony told his two allies.

"Mm-hmm….next time they come for us, we'll be ready!" Cherry told her friend.

With that, three Neopets left the arena for tomorrow…unaware that at the very moment a horrible creature was hunting them down…

_And once again the Villains of Darkness are defeated by the Heroes of Light….can they win the Battledome tournament? And what are the Cult of Apocalypse planning for them? Tune in next time!_


	11. Chapter 11: The Mutant

Saving Neopia

**Chapter 11: The Mutant**

Bloony and Cherry, along with their new friend Marvin the Mynci returned to Cherry's house. Once again they had been attacked by the Villains of Darkness…just as he said, Snotty had become quite a recurring villain….

And this time he had come with a Tyrannian Mynci with no brain and hatred towards video games…something that strangely contrasted with somebody Bloony knew, but he could not put his mind towards it….

"Nice to see you two again! I hope you didn't get hurt in the Battledome…" Cherry's Mother said. "Are you sure you should be participating in something so dangerous?" Cherry's Mother asked the two of them.

"Oh its fine…in fact there's a reason why we're participating in the Battledome…we're getting fighting experience in case for some reason we get attacked again. We even picked up a new friend along the way." Bloony told her, pointing to Marvin the Mynci.

"Oh hello! Are you participating in the Battledome with them?" Cherry's Mother asked.

"Mm-hmm! Although for some reason they do not seem to be well-liked among certain villainous Neopets…" Marvin the Mynci told Cherry's Mother.

"Well, I suppose you're welcome to stay with Bloony if you want…"

Marvin the Mynci was happy to hear that, and jumped into the air. "I suppose I'll need a spot to stay…seeing though my aircraft broke down on the way here…"

"You came here in a flying aircraft? That's some feat…." Cherry's Father noted.

"I know…I spent a while working on it….I'm not sure why it broke down…" Marvin the Mynci wondered.

It was eventually decided that Marvin the Mynci could sleep in the basement. Marvin the Mynci once again jumped into the air.

_He sure is an energetic Mynci…_Bloony thought.

It had been a crazy day, so Bloony and the others decided to get some rest.

Unbeknowist to them though...the three of them would be woken up pretty soon….

_Back at the dark castle…._

"What's taking that mutant so long? I thought I told it to hunt down those two Neopets!" Prof. Nyctus said. He had been monitoring the mutant for some time using a strange TV device. While it had attacked several Neopets looking for the Heroes of Light, it hadn't actually located them.

"Give it some time…." Steven suggested. "In case you haven't noticed, we're not sure where they are exactly….they could be hiding for all we know!"

"Alright, if you say so…although it still amazes me why they haven't been found…" Prof. Nyctus commented.

To answer Prof. Nyctus's question, the mutant suddenly came across a house. "You think that's it?" Steven asked.

Prof. Nyctus zoomed in using a setting on the TV-esque device. As he looked around, a smile appeared on his face, one that got wider and wider.

"Yes! We've finally found them!" Prof. Nyctus pressed a few buttons on a mind control device on his wrist, which allowed him to command the mutant.

"Hey mutant? See that house? I want you to attack it! Capture the Neopets that are inside!" Prof. Nyctus ordered the mutant.

The mutant nodded, and slowly entered the house…

_Back inside…_

"Bloony, wake up!" Cherry shouted.

"What? What is it?" Bloony asked.

"I heard something from outside! It sounded like something slithering…I'm not sure what it is though…" Cherry frantically told Bloony.

"Why haven't you checked it out yourself?" Bloony asked Cherry.

"It sounded scary! Really scary! I don't think it's a burglar or something like that…I think it's something worse!" Cherry told the yellow Blumaroo.

"Alright, let's check it out." With that, Bloony and Cherry went downstairs…

And were shocked by what they saw…

It was a hideous mutated creature, one that didn't look like a Neopet whatsoever….it was slowly creeping towards the basement….it also seemed to be looking for something….

"Heroes of Light…" the mutant creature muttered as it headed towards the basement.

"Whoa! It can speak!" Bloony immediately covered Cherry's mouth with his hand.

"We need to be quiet. Something tells me that strange creature isn't particularly friendly…" Bloony whispered to Cherry.

"It seems to be heading towards the basement…wait a minute, isn't that where Marvin is?" Cherry asked Bloony.

It was that moment that the two of them suddenly heard a shriek…one that sounded like a Mynci's.

"Oh no! We have to save him!" Cherry exclaimed.

"How are we supposed to do that?" Bloony asked.

"I don't care! We have to do something!" With that, Bloony decided to tag along with Cherry and see what was up.

They found the mutant, who judging from the looks of things had Marvin the Mynci cornered.

"Back away! I have weapons!" Marvin the Mynci warned the mutant, holding out what appeared to be a torch he had made himself.

The mutant took no notice, and instead grabbed Marvin by the tail.

"Hey! Let go!" Marvin the Mynci exclaimed.

Cherry couldn't take it any longer. "Put him down!" Cherry ordered.

The mutant turned towards Cherry…and suddenly its arm stretched several feet towards her!

"Whoa!" Cherry immediately dived out of the way.

"Be careful guys! It has elastic tentacles!" Bloony warned the others.

Marvin the Mynci held out his weapon. "I warned you!" Marvin told the mutant creature, frying it with a torch.

"On the other hand…it does seem to be heat-sensitive." Cherry noted.

It was then that Cherry's family suddenly came in. "What's going down here!" Cherry's father demanded to know.

The mutant creature turned to Cherry's family, and suddenly grabbed them with its tentacles!

"Wah! Help!" Cherry's mother exclaimed.

"Whoa…this creature reminds me of the stuff I read in science fiction novels…" Cherry's brother stated.

"Mama! Papa! Brother! Little brother!" Cherry exclaimed.

The mutant creature consumed the entire Chia family, and suddenly grew much bigger than before!

_Well, this cannot be good…_Marvin thought.

The mutant let out a roar, and suddenly tentacles appeared on the door, which unfortunately was the only way out of the basement.

"We have no choice! It looks like we have to take out this thing!" Bloony the Blumaroo told the other Heroes of Light.

"And save my family!" Cherry the Chia added.

And so the Heroes of Light found themselves in another epic battle….

Bloony threw a book, which hit the mutant in one of the tentacles. The mutant let out a cry like it had been struck, and retracted one of its several tentacles.

Cherry the Chia threw a lantern that was conveniently located in the basement, and set the monster on fire. "I sure hope that didn't hurt my family…" Cherry worried. Another one of its tentacles retracted.

Marvin the Mynci attacked the monster with his torch once again, which once again set the mutant on fire. "Don't like heat! Too bad! We're packing plenty of it!" Marvin the Mynci talked to the monster. The last one of the tentacles retracted.

The mutant, no longer having any tentacles to attack the heroes with, suddenly revealed a strange glowing core that had been hidden underneath its strange body.

"Look! That must be the weak point! Everyone, focus all your attacks on that thing!" Bloony told his team.

Bloony bounced, and landed straight on top of the core. The mutant let out another strange cry of pain.

Cherry let out one of her trademark burps, which for some reason caused more damage to the creature's core.

Marvin the Mynci fired several peanuts out of his wooden weapons, which hit the core and did still more damage to it.

However, before they could do any more damage and possibly end the fight, the core disappeared and the monster drew out his tentacles once more.

This time, the mutant would get the opportunity to attack. The mutant swung at the Heroes of Light, which hit Marvin the Mynci although it did not hit the others.

"OW! Stupid tentacles!" Marvin the Mynci angrily yelled.

Next, it drew its tentacles in the ground, which caused them to suddenly shoot out of the ground unexpectedly. Cherry was hit by this attack.

"AGH! What in Neopia?" Cherry shouted as she was hit by one of the tentacles that shot out of the floor.

The mutant kept on attacking. This time, the mutant simply attempted to strike the Heroes of Light with its tentacles by suddenly striking at the ground unexpectedly. Bloony was hit this time around.

"Ugh…my head." Bloony clutched his head in pain.

The mutant settled down, and the heroes were able to attack it again. They made sure to attack the tentacles just as they did before, knowing that once the tentacles disappeared its weak spot would be exposed.

But the mutant would not make this easy for them. It would often counterattack them while they were attacking its tentacles, which would frequently throw them off-balance and leave them open to attack.

Even so however, the heroes would time and time again expose its core, doing more and more damage. It seemed to be working, as the mutant got more and more tired.

Finally, the mutant collapsed, having used up all its energy. It even released Cherry's family as well.

"Ugh…remind me not to go through that again." Cherry's father said after he was released.

Afterwards, everything that made up the monster started disappearing, including its tentacles and its core, until only a yellow Acara remained.

"Ugh…what happened?" the yellow Acara scratched his head.

"You got turned into a monster, know anything about that?" Bloony asked the yellow Acara.

"Oh now I remember! By the way my name is Samo…you may know me from that Adver-video thing…I was watching TV when suddenly these strange bozos wearing black cloaks attacked me!"

"The Cult of Apocalypse!" Cherry exclaimed.

"They said they were going to give me to somebody named Prof. Nyctus to experiment on. It looked like he turned me into this strange creature with tentacles…" Samo explained.

"I see…I take it this professor is a mad scientist?" Marvin asked.

"Mm-hmm. He also had an assistant who would frequently give him supplies he would require for his experiments. It looked like he had been doing stuff like that for quite some time…looks like I was specifically intended for combat…" Samo slowly started to remember.

"Mm-hmm…so what are you going to do now?" Bloony asked Samo.

"I suppose I should go back to my folks at Downtown Neopia Central…they're probably wondering what happened to me…" With that, Samo left the house.

"Wow, that sure was crazy, huh?" Cherry told the others.

"Much agreed." Bloony said.

The others decided to go back to bed despite what had happened. After all, they had a Battledome match tomorrow…. 

As Bloony went to bed, one question remained in his mind…

_Just who are the Cult of Apocalypse?_

_Meanwhile, back at the dark castle…_

"What the heck just happened? I worked hard on creating a bioweapon and now it's gone for good! How could three Neopets defeat it like it was nobody's business?" Prof. Nyctus snarled in rage. "I'm going to make sure they pay for this if it's the last thing I do!"

Steven suddenly came into the room. "Is there something wrong?" he asked.

"You bet there is, you worthless excuse of an assistant! Those Neopets who call themselves the Heroes of Light defeated my monster!" Prof. Nyctus spat.

"Mm-hmm, so what are we going to do now?" Steven asked.

"What are we going to do? I tell you what I'm going to do! I'm going to send you to take care of these Neopets once and for all and make them suffer for what they did to my experiment!" Prof. Nyctus demanded his assistant.

"What? Me? How am I supposed to do that?" Steven asked his superior.

"By using these, my assistant! I'm giving you these state-of-the-art Battledome weapons to take care of these so-called heroes!" Prof. Nyctus exclaimed, giving Steven several expensive Battledome weapons.

"Alright, if you say so…" With that, Steven started to leave the laboratory, he thought to himself. _He really is a mad doctor…he's sending his own assistant to deal with a bunch of Neopets he doesn't even know that much about!_

As Steven left to fight the heroes, Prof. Nyctus grinned. "You may have defeated my special creation, but I'm going to make sure that's as far as you go…" With that, Prof. Nyctus laughed maniacally.

_Uh-oh! It looks like our heroes have more trouble coming their way! Can they defeat Steven, the Xweetok who is the assistant to the infamous mad scientist Prof. Nyctus? We'll have to wait and see…_


	12. Chapter 12: The Interviews

Saving Neopia

**Chapter 12: The Interviews**

When Bloony and Cherry woke up once again and left the house (Marvin the Mynci went too, but he wasn't one of the Neopets that was going to be interviewed at the moment) they were in for a pleasant surprise.

Bloony and Cherry were greeted by several news reporters, each wanting to hear about what had happened to them fairly recently back at Neopia Central.

"Did those criminals hurt you?" one of them asked.

"No, I'm fine. They're the ones that got hurt if you ask me…" Bloony told them.

They asked Bloony and Cherry several more questions, mainly the things that they had been doing recently. It was quite a hassle….

Fortunately, the news reporters left, but not before giving Bloony and Cherry quite some exhaustion.

"Hoo, boy…so this is like having 15 minutes of fame…" Bloony told his partner.

"15 minutes of fame? We've been attacked by more than the Villains of Darkness lately, in case you haven't noticed…"

Bloony suddenly remembered the strange encounters with the Cult of Apocalypse. They had encountered several of their members, as well as one of the monsters they had created.

While they had learned some information about them (such as the fact that they wanted to establish a new world, and that a mad doctor was allied with them creating bioweapons), they had not learned very much information about them altogether.

Bloony and Cherry went back into the house, ready to rest…

"Hey, guess what! You're on TV again!" Cherry's Father told the Heroes of Light.

"Really? Am I on too this time?" Marvin the Mynci asked.

"You sure are!" Marvin the Mynci immediately got excited.

The three of them decided to watch TV again.

"In this latest news report, three Neopets that have been participating in the Battledome have been attacked by three other criminals!" the male Skeith newscaster stated.

"And that's not all! Apparently, there had been a strange monster attacking various Neopets around town, but it has lately disappeared!" the female Kacheek newscaster stated.

They immediately showed several video clips, mainly of the Heroes of Light fighting the Villains of Darkness.

"Wow…we sure showed them who was boss, huh?" Marvin the Mynci said as they watched the three Villains of Darkness one by one get knocked out cold.

The screen then turned to the Techo receptionist, who had several security Neopets take the knocked out Villains of Darkness away.

"It was pretty satisfying watching them get kicked out of the Battledome and possibly banned for life." Cherry the Chia grinned.

"Yes….but I wonder where they are now?" Bloony the Blumaroo wondered.

"In other news, strange clouds have been forming around various areas in Neopia. We have no idea what's going on about them, but they do not seem to be natural." Said the male Skeith.

"We'll get back to you on that. For now, I'm Sarah Bushytail." The female Kacheek introduced herself.

"And I'm Thomas Goyle. See you on the next news report." The male Skeith introduced himself.

With that, the TV went to commercial.

"Wow, we sure have been on the news a lot, huh?" complimented Cherry.

"Yes, we sure seem to be a magnet for strange things going on…" Bloony agreed.

It was then that they suddenly remembered the black clouds looked awfully familiar to them…

"Don't they look like the mysterious clouds we saw before Roo Island went all crazy?" Cherry asked Bloony.

"Yes, they do look familiar…I've got a bad feeling about this." Bloony told his friend.

"Much agreed." said Cherry.

"Hey guys, what are you two talking about?" asked Marvin.

"Oh nothing you should probably be concerned about." Bloony said, not wanting to worry his partner.

"If you say so…" Marvin left the chair and went to the kitchen.

"What should we do now?" Cherry asked Bloony.

"We could go back to the Battledome…apparently we have another fight scheduled soon…"

"Sounds good!" With that, Cherry left the room as well.

"Let's just hope that the rest of Neopia doesn't have the same thing happen to it as Roo Island…" Bloony worried. With that, he left the room as well.

_Meanwhile at the Villains of Darkness Hideout…_

"I can't believe this! This is the third time I got defeated by these pests! I planned this for a long time too! I even brought along a new partner for the ride!" Snotty spat.

"Ah yes, we do seem to have difficulty fighting them…" Redtooth agreed.

"Rocky want to strike them hard!" Rocky yelled.

"I suppose we'll have to formulate a new plan…one that will make sure these losers get what's coming to them…" Snotty thought.

"Plan? What plan?" Rocky asked.

"I haven't thought one yet, Rocky. But I do have some suggestions…"

"Like what?" Redtooth asked.

"I say we do something that will help us defeat them….I was thinking of breaking into the Neopian Bank…that will give us Neopoints we could use to purchase supplies…" Snotty calculated.

"Rocky love breaking things!" Rocky exclaimed.

"Or we could try cutting down the Money Tree, it'll make those Neopets that use it to get free stuff upset….but it probably won't help us that much…"

"Shame, I'd like to see the looks on their faces too…" Redtooth replied.

"We could also try draining the Rainbow Pool and use its color-changing abilities to cause chaos…but once again that won't help us that much…I guess robbing the Neopian Bank it is!"

With that, the Villains of Darkness plotted to do something terrible once again….

_At the Apocalypse Castle…_

"You know, I'm really not sure if I sent my assistant alone….he's probably still looking for those Neopets as I speak….I know! I'll send backup!" With that, Prof. Nyctus contacted his assistant using a device that they had both put on their wrists.

"Yes professor?" asked Steven.

"Where are you now?" the professor demanded to know from his assistant.

"I'm at Neopia Central, why?" he told the professor.

"I'm sending you some backup in case you need it…" He pressed a button, and suddenly some robots were warped in next to him.

"Thanks, I was worried that I couldn't handle them alone…." Steven told the professor.

"Now where were we? Ah yes, get back to capturing the Heroes of Light!" Nyctus ordered Steven.

"Yes sir."

_Nothing major happened in this chapter…don't worry though, they'll be action in the next chapter! See you later!_


	13. Chapter 13: Prof Nyctus's Assistant

Saving Neopia

**Chapter 13: Prof. Nyctus's Assistant**

Our heroes were at the Battledome once again, this time fighting the Flaming Meerca.

"I'll burn you alive!" the Flaming Meerca taunted.

"I don't think so!" Marvin the Mynci retorted, extinguishing the Flaming Meerca with a fire extinguisher.

"GAH! NO!" While the Flaming Meerca was extinguished, the heroes attacked him several times, which was enough for them to win the battle.

"Gosh, it seems like there's nothing that can stop us…" Cherry the Chia responded.

"Yeah well, don't be so sure yet. We haven't beaten all the challengers." Bloony told his friend.

The three of them left the Battledome and went back to Cherry's house.

"We sure have beaten a lot of Battledome challengers, huh?" Marvin the Mynci told Bloony.

"Yep, we sure have…." Bloony nodded.

Little did that they know that at that very moment someone was preparing to attack them…

_Back at Cherry's house…_

"Gosh, we sure got a decent amount of NP, huh?" Cherry said as she rummaged through the bag.

"Yes, you guys must have been fighting in the Battledome a lot!" Marvin stated.

"We certainly have…." Bloony thought to himself.

The three heroes left the house, eager to spend their winnings.

They were actually able to afford a lot of decent stuff, including some Battledome weapons.

They also donated it some of the Money Tree, not wanting to become too greedy.

Overall they had a very good day….

But this would be subject to change soon enough….

On the way back to the house…

"Whoo! This is the best day ever! Nothing can possibly-"

"Don't jinx it!" Bloony told Cherry.

"What's your problem?" asked Marvin. "Like she said, nothing can possibly go wrong!"

"Shoot!" Bloony said out aloud. It was that moment that several robots opened fire on them.

"AAH!" said Cherry. Bloony, Cherry, and Marvin ducked behind a tree to avoid the laser projectiles.

"HAHAHAHA!" said Steven.

"Who are you?" asked Bloony.

"I am Steven, member of the Cult of Apocalypse! I've been sent by Prof. Nyctus to bring you to the Apocalypse Castle…and that's what precisely what I intend to do!" With that, he pulled out a Goo Blaster.

"He's got a Goo Blaster!" screamed Cherry.

Steven fired the sticky goo at the heroes, which they just narrowly dodged.

"He sure has access to superior technology…" commented Bloony.

"First things first, we need to take care of these robots first!" Marvin fried the robots with a laser gun he had built, causing several of them to malfunction.

Cherry let out an enormous burp, causing several more of the robots to explode.

Bloony short-circuited another one, causing it to go haywire and run straight into some other robots, causing them all to explode.

The robots were not giving up without a fight though. One of them punched Bloony right in the face.

"OW! Not in the face!" Bloony shouted.

Marvin got on top of a robot, which frantically tried to shake it off, firing several shots at the other robots in the process which unfortunately for it ending up hitting the other robots.

Another one of the robots stretched out his arms, which hit Cherry in the face as well.

"OUCH!" explained Cherry.

The robots kept on fighting, but eventually the heroes managed to deactivate every last one of them.

Naturally, Steven was not amused. "Professor Nyctus is going to kill me for this! But no matter! I'm bringing you with me whether you like it or not!" With that, he pulled out a Freezing Potion and froze Marvin the Mynci solid.

"OH NO!" Bloony and Cherry exclaimed.

"Like that? There's plenty more where that came from!" Steven explained, pulling out a Portable Kiln that set fire to everything around Bloony and Cherry.

"Are you crazy? You're going to burn all of Neopia Central down if you keep using that!" Bloony told Steven.

"Well I am a mad scientist's assistant, so it'd make sense that I'd be somewhat crazy myself…." Steven responded.

"I'm not letting you burn down Neopia Central!" Cherry told the mad assistant, punching him in the face.

"OW! You stupid little Chia…." He pulled out a Ghostkerbomb, which rolled straight towards the heroes.

"Get out of the way! " Bloony ordered Cherry.

Fortunately, the Ghostkerbomb did not damage either of them, which was very good seeing though Ghostkerbombs do enormous damage in the event they are used against an opponent in the Battledome without proper defenses.

It was that moment that the intense heat caused by the Portable Kiln thawed Marvin the Mynci out. "Brr…I'm so cold." he chattered.

"Good to see you managed to thaw out." Cherry helped Marvin get warm again.

Bloony hit Steven on the head with a mallet, giving him a concussion.

"Ow, my head…" Steven had a few stars above my head. "Fine, so that's the way you want to play, is it? Alright then! It's time to get defensive!" With that, Steven pulled out a Thyora's Tear, which caused a blue shield to envelop him.

"What did he just do?" Cherry wondered.

"He's using a Thyora's Tear! For a brief time, he won't take any damage from our attacks!" Marvin the Mynci told her.

"Great, just great…." Bloony rolled his eyes.

Fortunately, as Marvin the Mynci said, the Thyora's Tear did not last long. However, this gave Steven enough time to toss a Rainbow Clockwork Grundo, which exploded right in Bloony's face.

"AAUGH!" Bloony explained. He had taken significant damage from the Grundo.

"I don't think we're going to get many places if we keep attacking separately." Marvin the Mynci told the others.

"You're right! Let's try attacking him together!"

And so they did. And it was a good thing they did, for Steven was about to pull out a Super Attack Pea, which as we know is one of the most powerful Battledome weapons ever.

"Time to finish this battle off…hey what the-" Steven explained right before the Heroes of Light dogpiled him.

"Get off me!" he demanded.

"Not unless you tell us what you know about the Cult of Apocalypse!" Bloony demanded from the Xweetok in the lab coat.

Unfortunately, Steven was prepared for such an occasion. He pulled out a Thick Smoke Bomb, causing thick gas to appear all over the place.

The Heroes of Light all coughed as the gas entered the lungs. When the gas cleared, Steven was gone.

"Oh great! He escaped!" Marvin the Mynci grumbled.

"Ah yes, recurring villains do that a lot…" Bloony scratched his chin.

"Hey! He dropped something!" Cherry noticed.

Bloony, Marvin, and Cherry looked at the map. Apparently it was a map of Neopia. But what they saw was not good. Roo Island had been crossed out, and several other places around Neopia had been crossed, Neopia Central in particular.

"Things may be a whole lot worse than I thought…." Bloony observed.

Meanwhile back at the Apocalypse Castle…

"UGH! Why can't you get anything right!" Prof. Nyctus barked at his assistant. "I gave you a bunch of expensive Battledome weapons along with some of my robots, and you still lost!"

"I'm sorry Professor, I tried everything!" Steven told him. He was bruised and battered from his duel with the heroes.

It was then that Fallenova suddenly entered the laboratory.

"You again? What are you doing here?" Prof. Nyctus wondered.

"Lord Cataclysm is displeased with your lack of progress." Fallenova told Prof. Nyctus.

"Fine! If he wants progress, I'll give him progress! I'm going after them myself!" Prof. Nyctus told Fallenova.

"I see….and what do you plan on using to dispose of these heroes?" Fallenova asked curiously.

"My spaceship of course! It has all sorts of nasty weapons!" the mad Korbat told the cloaked commander.

"I see…just remember that the master wants them back alive…" With that, Fallenova left the laboratory once again.

"Enjoy your freedom while it lasts…Heroes of Light…enjoy it while it lasts." The mad scientist cackled.

_A giant spaceship? This doesn't seem good for the Heroes of Light…in the next chapter, a new ally will join the team…_


	14. Chapter 14: Ursula the Usul

Saving Neopia

**Chapter 14: Ursula the Usul**

_Meanwhile at a cloud above Faerieland…._

"Say, have you seen Ursula?" an Usul asked.

"I don't know, I haven't seen her today. I guess I'll go look for her." another Usul replied.

And so she did.

Logically, the first place she checked was at Ursula's house. She knocked on the door….but didn't receive an answer. Fortunately the door was unlocked, so she was able to enter the house freely.

"Where is she?" wondered the Usul.

The Usul's question was answered when she found Ursula the Usul…however she was doing something completely unexpected.

Much to the Usul's surprise, her room was filled with gym equipment! And she was currently lifting a dumbbell!

"Um, hello?" Ursula the Usul asked, curious to why the Usul was there.

"Why are you weightlifting?" asked the Usul.

"I don't know, I guess I just like getting exercise, I suppose…" Ursula replied.

"That seems to be putting it mildly…" the Usul responded.

"Well, I suppose I'll talk to you later…" Ursula the Blue Usul said, leaving the house.

For some reason, Ursula had been different from the Usuls that way. She did not care about her appearance (at least not in particular), she enjoyed lifting weights (other Usuls feared doing things like that, lest they break a nail), and altogether enjoyed doing tomboyish things.

It was something that caused her head to spin. (No, not like in that movie, figuratively speaking.)

Today was a bright day, so she decided to take a walk outside….

But unfortunately did not watch where she was going, and fell off the cloud to the land below.

"AAH!" screamed Ursula as she fell several thousand feet.

Obviously, the Faerie of Death would be waiting to catch her at the bottom, so things did not look good for our poor Usul.

Would she survive this mess?

_Back to our main protagonists…_

Bloony, being the leader of the Heroes of Light, was looking at the map carefully, looking particularly at the crossed out areas.

"What do you think it means?" Cherry the Red Chia asked.

"I think it means that the Cult of Apocalypse do not wish to stop at merely Roo Island, unfortunately. It seems like they're planning something really nasty." Bloony the Yellow Blumaroo said as he looked at the map.

"That doesn't sound good…hey have you seen Marvin?" asked Cherry.

"He said that he was working on a giant pillow for some reason…he said that he wanted to see if he could create something that would be useful for sleeping Neopets…." replied Bloony.

"Alright, if you say so…I'm going to check things out." Cherry the Chia said as she left.

The more Bloony looked at the map, the more he started sweating and feeling frightened. The Cult of Apocalypse were clearly worse than he thought…apparently, they wanted to do to all of Neopia what they had done to Roo Island…

The very thought filled Bloony with dread…..

"It looks like if something isn't done, the Cult of Apocalypse will take over all of Neopia….I hope there's someone that can stop them, even if it's not us…" Bloony talked to himself.

_Outside Cherry's house…_

"So, why are you building that pillow again?" asked Cherry.

"I don't know, I just got the urge to do it all of a sudden…there, I think I'm almost done!" Marvin the Mynci said. He had finally finished the pillow.

Suddenly they heard what appeared to be someone falling.

"Huh? All of a sudden I think I hear screaming…." wondered Cherry.

The screams got louder and louder….

Until finally they stopped….suddenly something landed hard on the pillow!

"HEY! I worked hard on that!" exclaimed Marvin the Mynci.

Marvin the Mynci and Cherry the Chia investigated the pillow…

And much to their surprise they found a Usul lying on top of it!

"Um, hello?" asked Marvin the Mynci.

Ursula the Usul, grateful at the Mynci for saving her life, immediately gave him a bear hug, which unfortunately squeezed the life out of his lungs. "You saved my life! Thank you mister!" said Ursula the Usul.

"ACK! You're choking me!" said Marvin the Mynci.

"Er…sorry about that." said Ursula the Usul. "So is there anything I can do for you to return?"

"Well, I suppose there are a few things….I need someone to clean my room…it's gotten messy out of late…and I'm looking for the latest issue of Supermynci, and I'm also trying to complete my latest card coll-" Marvin the Mynci was suddenly interrupted when out of nowhere a piano fell on top of him….where the piano came from, nobody knows.

"LOOK OUT!" exclaimed Ursula the Usul.

Ursula the Usul pushed Marvin the Mynci out of the way, taking the full weight of the piano in the process.

"NO! SHE'S DEAD!" exclaimed Cherry the Chia.

It seemed like the Faerie of Death wasn't so willing to part with Ursula's soul…..or was she?

Much to her (and the others) surprise, Ursula the Usul slowly found herself lifting the piano.

"Wow! I must have been doing more weight-lifting than I thought…." Ursula the Usul said out loud.

"Gosh, you think?" asked Cherry the Chia.

"So, I guess we're even now?" Marvin the Mynci sadly asked.

Ursula the Usul shrugged.

"I suppose we might as well tell Bloony what happened…." Cherry the Chia said, going back inside the house.

"BLOONY! Come quick! Something crazy happened!" Cherry the Chia exclaimed.

"Is it the Cult of Apocalypse up to one of their crazy schemes?" Bloony the Blumaroo asked curiously.

"No! It's something different!" Cherry the Chia told Bloony.

"OK…." Bloony said. "There's no need to shout about it."

Bloony came out a few minutes later along with Cherry.

"So what's the surprise? It better be something important…I'm trying to see just what the Cult of Apocalypse's next move might be…" Bloony asked the other Heroic Monsters.

"Well…" Cherry the Chia said, pointing at Ursula the Usul, who was standing nearby.

"OK…." Bloony scratched his head. "Is that all?"

"It's crazy dude! I was building my pillow when all of a sudden she fell out of the sky! She landed straight on it!" Marvin the Mynci exclaimed.

"That is an interesting story…" Bloony scratched his chin.

"But that's not all of it! Watch this!" Without warning, Cherry the Chia jumped into Ursula the Usul's arms, who instinctively raised her high up into the air with a surprising lack of effort.

"Wow." Bloony the Blumaroo thought.

"Yep…So what should we do with her?" asked Marvin the Mynci.

Bloony shrugged. "I suppose we could have her join the Heroes of Light…"

"Well, seeing though you guys saved my life…sure."

And so the Heroes of Light went from three members to four…

Unfortunately they weren't the only ones recruiting….

_Meanwhile outside the Neopian Bank…_

"HAHAHA! Soon the Neopian Bank will be cleaned out, and we shall be Neo-millionaires! HAHAHA!" Snotty the Blumaroo plotted.

"Yes….I will be able to have all the meat all I want!" Redtooth licked his lips.

"And Rocky will get to break lots of things!" Rocky smiled.

The three Villains of Darkness went inside the bank…

And much to their surprise, the guards had already been knocked out and tied up.

"What's going on here?" wondered Snotty. "Did the guards decide to save us the work?"

Redtooth and Rocky shrugged.

"Ah well who cares! Let's get robbing!"

Snotty, Redtooth, and Rocky started opening the safes…(Whether it was smashing them or trying to figure out the lock combination)

And were surprised when they had already been emptied.

"What's going on here? ROCKY WANTS MONEY!" Rocky the Mynci asked.

"I don't know…it's as if someone is already robbing the bank!" Redtooth the Lupe wondered.

And this turned out to be the case, as the three Villains of Darkness discovered an Usul holding up the bank owner with….a bottle of perfume.

"Alright, give me the rest of the money in this bank, or you'll end up like your friends!" the greedy Usul exclaimed.

"Fine! The combination for the lock on the vault is….1337…" the bank owner said, right before the Blue Usul sprayed the perfume in the bank owner's face, causing him to pass out like all the others.

"Wow! She's good!" Snotty the Blumaroo thought.

Suddenly the Usul bandit turned toward the others.

"Uh-oh." said Redtooth.

"Who are you? Are you more of those guards coming to stop me from robbing the bank? Because I've got more than enough perfume and rope to take care of you!" she responded.

"Er, no….we're bank robbers like you….what is your name anyway?" asked Snotty.

"Well in case you're wondering…my name's Jennifer. Now get lost! I was about to finish this bank heist when suddenly you three interrupted me!" said Jennifer.

Suddenly Rocky went up to Jennifer. "You are so pretty! Would you like to hang out with me sometime?" he asked.

"NO! GROSS!" shouted Jennifer in disgust, knocking Rocky into a wall.

Unfortunately, this act of violence triggered an alarm. The Neopian police would be there any second.

"Well, shoot!" said Bloony, covering his ears.

"RUN!" Redtooth the Lupe exclaimed.

And so the four of them had to leave the bank….without robbing the vault.

"ERGH! I was so close! And you three ruined it!" Jennifer the Usul shouted.

"Sorry about that…did you get anything?" Redtooth the Lupe asked.

"Yes, but not nearly as much as I would have hoped! UGH! You guys stink!" Jennifer pouted.

"Do you need any place to hide?" asked Snotty.

"Well, come to think of it…yes I do!" Jennifer the Usul answered.

"Then I've got the perfect place for you…" Snotty told her…

_And so both a hero and a villain is introduced in this chapter….meanwhile, what could the Cult of Apocalypse be planning?_


	15. Chapter 15: Taking Down The Champ

Saving Neopia

**Chapter 15: Battledome Blues**

"So let me get this straight, you're adding another recruit? I suppose if you think this will work out for you." said the receptionist.

Ursula cracked her knuckles.

As the Heroes of Light entered the Battledome once more, they found a shocking surprise.

This time around, our heroes found themselves up against a tough opponent...Kasuki Lu himself!

"We must be doing REALLY well in the Battledome if we've gotten this far." said Bloony.

"Ah yes, we have defeated a lot of Battledome opponents lately." responded Cherry.

"Oh boy oh boy oh boy!" Marvin exclaimed as he jumped up and down in excitement

Kasuki Lu had been in the Battledome for a long time, and he certainly was prepared for such an encounter with the Heroic Monsters. He was considered one of the Battledome champions, in fact.

Kasuki Lu struck first before any of his foes could react, throwing one of his many Exploding Pizza Pasties, which unfortunately directly hit Bloony, Cherry, and Marvin.

"YEOW!" stated all three as the not-so-tasty food exploded right in front of them.

After that, Kasuki Lu focused on taking one of the Neopets down at a time, taunting them as they did so. "Go back to your geek convention!" he taunted as he slashed Marvin several times in rapid succession with two scimitars, which unfortunately did the poor green geeky Mynci in.

"OW! So uncool...I thought you were supposed to be a hero..." stated Marvin the Mynci, right before passing out from the multiple injuries he received from the attack.

"NO! MARVIN!" stated Bloony, Cherry, and Ursula as Marvin went down for the count.

But Kasuki Lu wasn't finished with the Heroes of Light yet, oh no. "Another fellow Chia huh? I know just what to do with you." He blasted her with a large amount of water from his Trident of Poseidon and sat straight on top of Cherry before she could recover. Unfortunately, the Red Chia could not handle being crushed by such a heavyweight who would frequently eat food to buff himself up when he was not fighting at the Battledome. When Kasuki Lu finally got off of her, she was already heavily unconscious.

"This is not going good..." worried Bloony.

And indeed it wasn't, as at that particular moment a Red Clockwork Grundo suddenly exploded in Bloony's face.

"IT BURNS!" screamed Bloony.

Kasuki Lu then finished Bloony off, first by stabbing him with his sword and then whacking him around the arena with his trusty pair of chucks.

Now all that was left was Ursula, who was pretty unsure of herself at that point...until Kasuki Lu said something that immediately set her off.

"Oh what's this? A weak little girl? You should run home to mommy if you know what's good for you!"

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?" asked Ursula the Usul, turning bright red, similar to what would have happened if a Neopet dipped themselves with red paint at the Rainbow Pool (which naturally, would often be closed due to the frequent customers).

"Um...let's talk about it?" asked Kasuki Lu, trying to save himself from a no holds barred beatdown.

Ursula the Usul tossed Kasuki Lu straight up into the air, so high that he went into outer space where he could see both Kreludor and the Virtupets Space Station. And unfortunately for Kasuki Lu, the bigger the Neopet was, the harder they fell to the ground.

CRASH!

Kasuki Lu fell on the floor, badly beaten up and having a concussion. "You won...I can't believe you won..." said Kasuki Lu in disbelief. With that, he fell unconscious.

Everyone in the audience was shocked at what they had just seen. Nonetheless, Ursula was declared the winner, along with the rest of her teammates.

"You took down Kasuki Lu yourself? You are my idol!" exclaimed Marvin the Mynci. He immediately started asking Ursula if he could get her autograph.

"Um, sure, but I don't exactly have a pen...or a piece of paper." Ursula responded.

Thankfully Marvin the Mynci had one in hand, so Ursula was able to do so.

"Thank you!" said Marvin the Mynci.

Marvin the Mynci had already built a house for Ursula the Usul to use whenever she needed to go to bed. Coincidentally, it was near the house where Bloony, Cherry, and Marvin were currently staying.

"Gee thanks." said Ursula, greatly appreciating it.

Today had been rather crazy. Kasuki Lu, who was previously thought to be invincible, had been taken down by a single Neopet...and by a female one, no less!

Bloony, Cherry, and Marvin were more experienced now, and felt like they would be able to take on anyone they came across.

They would have to...

Meanwhile...at the Villains of Darkness Hideout...

"Yuck! This place is horrible!" Jennifer thought as she went with the other Villains of Darkness.

"Do you want to be caught by the Neopian police or not?" asked Snotty.

"Yeah, do you?" asked Redtooth.

"Fine..." grumbled Jennifer as they went to the hideout, clearly unhappy as to where they would be staying so that they could be eluding the authorities.

"Me wonder when we get to break stuff again." asked Rocky.

Little did they know that somebody would be finding them soon...

At the Cult of Apocalypse Headquarters...

"You almost ready to go?" asked Steven.

"Yes! This spaceship of mine can travel at 300 miles an hour! Impressive isn't it?" asked Professor Nyctus.

"Yes, it is." Steven told the mad doctor.

"Well, if you need anything, just contact me." Professor Nyctus said as he flew towards Neopia Central on his state-of-the-art battleship, ready to finally put an end to the Heroes of Light.

Would he be able to defeat them unlike his assistant?

_Sorry for the long lack of update, I've been having to use this particular computer recently...one that's prone to crashing and whatnot...just wanted to let you know. There sure was a lot of foreshadowing, wasn't there? I suppose I'll be seeing you..._


	16. Chapter 16: The Hideout

Saving Neopia

**Chapter 16: The Hideout**

"Gosh Bloony, we sure have done a lot lately, haven't we?" asked Cherry.

"We sure have Cherry. We've taken down Kasuki Lu...something none of the other Neopets have actually done..." Bloony told her.

"Mm-hmm! And to think Ursula did it single-handedly..." Marvin the Mynci replied.

"I don't know what got into me...he just made me so mad..." Ursula the Usul told her teammates.

"Once again we're in the news. Check out this copy of the Neopian Times!" Cherry handed out.

On the headline was...

USUL GIRL SINGLE-HANDEDLY TAKES DOWN REIGNING CHIA CHAMP.

"I still can't believe you did that!" Marvin the Mynci exclaimed.

"Ah yes, you've been talking about it ever since we got home from the Battledome." Bloony told his Mynci friend.

Ursula rolled her eyes.

It was then that suddenly they noticed a strange smell coming from outside the house.

"What's going on?" asked Cherry.

The four of them went outside the house, and found a strange trail of makeup outside.

"That's weird, what's a trail of makeup doing outside the house?" wondered Bloony.

"I don't know!" exclaimed Ursula.

"Well, I suggest we follow it!" Marvin the Mynci suggested.

And so they did...

The further they went down the trail, the less Neopets civilization they saw. They started to wonder where exactly this trail led.

Eventually there were no Neopets in sight, other than our heroes, of course.

Finally, the trail led into a forest on the outskirts of town.

"You sure we should go in there? I've got a bad feeling about this." Cherry questioned her teammates.

"I'm starting to wonder that myself. I suppose it's probably nothing, and maybe we should go back." Bloony responded to Cherry.

It was then that suddenly they heard an evil laugh coming from the woods.

"What the-" Marvin the Mynci blurted out.

"I've got a really bad feeling about this! Let's turn back now!" Cherry chattered.

"Wait a minute, I recognize that laugh...c'mon team let's move!" Bloony ordered his teammates.

They went into the forest, and soon enough they found a strange house inside of it.

"What is this place?" asked Ursula.

"I think I know where this is...guys, I think we've found the Villains of Darkness Hideout!" Bloony said.

"Who are the Villains of Darkness?" wondered Ursula.

"The Villains of Darkness are this evil team of goons who always go around causing trouble. They've attacked us several times, but so far they haven't had any luck in defeating us, fortunately. Still, I'm glad we managed to find their hideout." Bloony answered Ursula's questions.

"So, they were responsible for that bank robbery yesterday then?"

"Exactly."

"Yeah! Now we can finally put an end to all this nonsense!" Cherry cheered.

"Let's be careful guys!" Marvin warned his teammates.

_Inside the house..._

"MONEY MONEY MONEY!" Snotty squealed with glee. After a failed attempt to rob it previously, he had finally succeeded with the help of his three henchmen.

"I wonder what we should do with this..." wondered Redtooth.

"I say we use to buy a bulldozer so we can smash things!" recommended Rocky.

"I say we use to buy some new shoes!" Jennifer the Usul suggested.

"Hmm..." said Snotty.

"Hey, do you guys hear something?" asked Redtooth.

Suddenly the Heroes of Light barged straight into the house.

"WHAT THE-HOW'D YOU GET IN HERE? WE THOUGHT THIS PLACE WAS HIDDEN!" Snotty exclaimed. "Wait a minute...Jennifer, were you wearing that makeup that runs easily?"

"Sorry Snotty..." she apologized.

"Well it's a bit late for an apology now! Now yes where was I...team, attack your goody two-shoes twin and make sure they learn the hard way not to trespass at our estate!"

And thus, the fourth battle between the Heroes of Light and the Villains of Darkness began.

"Ursula is it? I see that you're the latest recruit for the Heroes of Light...just like I'm the newest recruit as well! What a coincidence! Well, here's a gift for you for joining them!" Jennifer talked to her adversary, right before throwing jewelry at Ursula.

"OW!" screamed Ursula. The jewelry stung when it hit her fur. "Grr..." Ursula picked up a drawer and threw it at Jennifer.

"OUCH! You're a strong one, aren't you?" Jennifer retaliated by spraying toxic perfume in Ursula's face. Thankfully, Ursula dodged and knocked Jennifer up in the air.

CRASH! Jennifer went straight through the ceiling.

"Ow..." said Jennifer. She went back down and started attempting to punch Ursula several times at frightning speed.

Thankfully Ursula was prepared, and gave Jennifer a swift punch of her own. Due to Ursula's immense strength, this was not a pleasant experience for the villainous Red Usul, who was knocked back several meters..

"AGH! CURSE YOU YOU STUPID USUL!" With that, Jennifer fell on the floor, heavily unconscious.

Elsewhere in the hideout, Marvin and Rocky were at it again. "Me smash you for what you do to me earlier!" Rocky screamed, trying to smash Marvin with his club.

"No wonder you lost to me last time! You're as dumb as a brick!" Marvin told his adversary, striking Rocky with a bottle launcher.

"KEEP YOUR WEAPONS AWAY FROM ME!" Rocky bellowed, throwing a lamp at him.

Marvin got hit this time, rubbing his sore head. But thankfully, he was not out of the fight just yet. "Say hello to my new weapon!" said Marvin, pulling out a banana and eating it..

"What kind of weapon is-" Rocky was suddenly cut off when he tripped over a banana peel that Marvin had dropped on the floor.

Seizing the opportunity, Marvin threw several pencils at Rocky, pinning him to the floor. Marvin then finished Rocky off by striking him with a textbook.

"Me going to crush you for this later..." Rocky said, falling unconscious as well.

As usual...Redtooth once again chased Cherry, Redtooth careful not to wreck anything in the house or mess up his fur as he did so.

"I'm going to catch you Cherry! Don't think you'll be able to escape this time!" Redtooth told his nemesis.

"Oh please! I've done it twice before, I can do it again!" Cherry said to him.

They chased throughout the house. Cherry wondered what she should do. She then suddenly noticed a mop and a bucket, and locked the door.

Redtooth immediately started tearing it apart, desperate to try to catch her. "Don't think this will hold me for long!" Redtooth yelled.

While he was occupied, Cherry started making the floor as slippery as possible.

Not long after she was done, Redtooth crashed through the door...

And immediately lost his footing and crashed straight into a wall...quite hard.

"Ow, not again..." Redtooth murmured, once again falling unconscious on the floor.

At the entrance of the house, Bloony was once again playing an unusual game with Snotty.

"Got any threes?" asked Bloony.

"Go fish." replied Snotty. Bloony suddenly felt like he had been punched in the face, even gaining a bruise on his forehead. "Ugh..." he thought.

In case you hadn't already guessed, they were playing Go Fish...which naturally came with a twist. The loser would find themselves quite beaten up, enough to make them pass out.

"I'm going to win this time!" taunted Snotty.

"Oh really? I wonder how your teammates are doing?" Bloony asked Snotty.

"Very funny..."

They kept on playing on playing, with both of them receiving several pairs of cards.

Finally, they ran out, and they started counting them up...

Much to his surprise, Snotty found he had lost once again, followed by him feeling many, many punches to the face.

"Noooo..." Snotty whispered. With that, he fell on the floor.

The Heroes of Light got back together not long afterwards.

"I take it you guys won?" asked Bloony.

With that, they ended up doing a victory pose. Bloony simply grinned in satisfaction, Cherry burped, Marvin jumped into the air, and Ursula flexed her muscles.

For some reason, Snotty woke up not long after this, and looked around the house and saw his defeated teammates. "Ugh, could this get any worse?"

"Wait for it..." responded Bloony.

The police suddenly came in, apparently hearing the commotion. Pretty soon the house was arrested. "Freeze! You are under arrest!"

The other Villains of Darkness woke up not long after this. "NO! THIS CAN'T BE!" they all exclaimed.

The four of them were put into handcuffs, and loaded into a police truck.

"Thanks you four, if it weren't for you we might have never caught these scoundrels!" the police officer told them.

"It was nothing, we just like helping people." Bloony replied to the officer.

"Until next time!" With that, the police left to take the Villains of Darkness to prison.

"We sure did well today, didn't we?" Marvin asked his teammates.

"We certainly did! Gosh, I didn't know I had an evil counterpart..." Ursula thought out loud.

"We all do, I think." Cherry told her teammates, remembering Redtooth and his constant attempts to try to eat her.

"I wonder if this is going to be on the news?" asked Bloony.

With that, they went back to their homes once again.

_This is probably the longest chapter in the story yet...but at least the Villains of Darkness have been locked up...they won't be bothering our heroes for a while..._

_In the next chapter though...things are going to get interesting..._


	17. Chapter 17: Crime Doesn't Pay

Saving Neopia

**Chapter 17: Crime Doesn't Pay**

The Heroes of Light were once again watching the news. Apparently the Villains of Darkness had committed many crimes that the Heroes of Light had not even been aware of, and they had been on the verge of getting an entry in Neopia's Most Wanted.

"I wonder what it has to say?" asked Cherry.

According to their recent criminal trial, they had been found guilty of felonious assault, armed robbery, extortion, vandalism, perjury, obstruction of justice, failing to report for jury duty, and jaywalking down the street. Suffice to say, they were going to have a lot added to their criminal records in the near future. Nobody would ever want to stay close to them, suffice to say, and they would find themselves having a hard time trying to get a job.

But there was a few things on their list of crimes that sparked the Heroes of Light's curiousity.

"Jaywalking down the street?" Marvin the Mynci curiously asked.

"Failing to report for jury duty?" Cherry the Chia wondered out loud.

"Apparently they don't really care what crime they commit." Bloony told his teammates.

Today had been a great day for the Heroes of Light. The Villains of Darkness were apparently finally out of their hair...

But Ursula was a little worried. "Won't they just break out of jail?" asked Ursula.

"Probably, but still this is a big victory for us." answered Bloony.

"Right. You think we should throw a party?" questioned Ursula.

"If you want to." Bloony told Ursula.

And so they got everything the Heroes of Light needed so that they all could celebrate their latest success.

They had a pretty big party...one that involved pizza, soda pop, and several entertaining games, unlike Snotty's sick sense of fun.

"Woohoo!" Cherry said happily.

Suffice to say, each member of the Heroes of Light had a great time, even the somewhat laidback Bloony.

But what had come of the Villains of Darkness?

It was a question that came in their mind from time to time...

But nonetheless they still had a lot of fun...

It was something nostalgic that they would be remembering for quite a while...

_Meanwhile at the Neopia Central Courthouse...a few hours ago..._

"Jury, what is your verdict?" asked the Kau judge.

"We find them all guilty of all charges." the Moehog member of the jury pleaded.

"Very well. I sentence you all to twenty-five years each in prison without parole." With that, the Kau judge banged his gavel.

"Twenty-five years in prison?!" screamed Snotty.

"I won't be able to hunt!" yelled out Redtooth.

"Rocky don't want to go to jail!" complained Rocky.

"I'm too pretty to go behind bars!" whined Jennifer.

The Villains of Darkness, due to their unspeakable criminal behavior, were taken to a high-security prison at Brightvale...

It wasn't a whole lot of fun for them. There were prison guards there that would constantly keep an eye on what they were doing, making sure that they would not try to escape.

There were also other prisoners there as well. One of them was a Hissi who had tried to choke a Meerca by wrapping itself around him extremely tightly. He had been sentenced for life.

There was a Baby Usul in jail as well, who had used her cute looks to her advantage, beating up several innocent people and stealing whatever stuff she wanted.

Another was an Aisha who had illegally set up a satellite dish that would allow Alien Aishas to invade the Earth and endanger the lives of many Neopets.

Finally, there was a Ogrin who spat in other people's faces one too many times...why he was in such a high-security prison was somewhat of a mystery.

In case it wasn't obvious, the Villains of Darkness did not enjoy their time in prison.

"Aargh! Curse you Heroes of Light! You may have sent us off to prison, but mark our words! We'll have our revenge!" screamed Snotty.

"Yeah! What he said! I'm going to get you, you little red Chia, even if it's the last thing I ever do!" bellowed Redtooth.

Snotty and Redtooth had been placed in the same cell, partly due to the fact that they had been working together for quite some time, at least until Rocky came along.

Now that the two of them were behind bars, they had gotten quite angry, furious at being imprisoned thanks to the Heroes of Light.

For some reason, even though Jennifer was a girl and Rocky was a boy, they had been placed in the same cell as well.

"I never should have joined you!" Jennifer pouted. "Thanks to you I'm stuck in this dump!"

"Rocky no like it either! There no people and stuff for me to smash!" Rocky frowned.

To make matters worse, the judge said very clearly that they shouldn't receive a parole, meaning that they would be spending their entire sentence without a break.

This really got to all four of them, who had learned the hard way what happens when you commit several crimes without any hesitation.

Karma had struck the Villains of Darkness hard.

But little did they know that the Heroes of Light would be facing a greater threat than the four of them...

At that moment, the dark clouds that had overwhelmed Roo Island were heading quite close to Neopia Central...dangerously close in fact.

Prof. Nyctus had finally taken his role of capturing our heroes seriously. He had brought many members of the Cult of Apocalypse with him (some of them were riding ships, while some of them were travelling on foot), meaning that our heroes would have quite a challenge ahead of them.

And even if they were to defeat Prof. Nyctus's henchmen, they would have to take down his mighty spaceship, which naturally was complete with many nasty weapons.

Things did not look good for the Heroes of Light.

_The Villains of Darkness have finally been imprisoned for their crimes (twice if including an earlier incident in the story), but more powerful threats are looming in on the horizon...can our heroes defeat the mad doctor and stop him from succeeding in his nasty plans? I suppose you'll just have wait for the eighteenth chapter...which depending on my mood may be coming very soon, so don't worry too much about it!_


	18. Chapter 18: Invasion of Neopia

Saving Neopia

**Chapter 18: Invasion of Neopia**

"Is everything ready?" asked Prof. Nyctus.

The Cult of Apocalypse members nodded.

"Good! Let's begin the attack, shall we?" And so it began.

Using their aircrafts, the Cult of Apocalypse dropped a strange mist, one that had a similar effect that the storm clouds had that turned Roo Island evil.

The Neopets in Neopia Central looked around them curiously, unaware of what was going on in motion.

It wasn't just Neopia Central either. On the way there, the Cult of Apocalypse had made sure to corrupt as many places as they could.

Much of Neopia was already under the Cult of Apocalypse's control, and their influence was growing fast.

If nothing was done, eventually all of Neopia would be claimed by them, and there would be nothing stopping Lord Cataclysm from turning it into his own personal evil empire.

Speaking of the leader of the Cult of Apocalypse, he was currently monitoring the progress of Prof. Nyctus, and so far he was quite satisfied.

"Yes, Fyora can't help them now..." laughed Lord Cataclysm in satisfaction.

He had been plotting the attack on Neopia for quite some time, although it wasn't until recently that he had finally decided to pull it off. Thanks to Prof. Nyctus's research, along with some faerie magic, he was able to perfect a formula that would turn anyone it touched (or possibly whoever breathed it, the formula itself was still quite mysterious) into a horrible monster, although some were more resistant than others, it still affected pretty much any Neopet in some shape and form.

The formula was unique in that it could be either spread through the air, or simply dropped into containers that would quickly release the uncanny substance.

But at that moment, the Heroes of Light were at Neopia Central...and they would soon be aware of what was going on...

_Meanwhile at Super Fun Happy Place..._

"Whew!" exclaimed Bloony. Today had been a crazy party, and all the members of the Heroes of Light had a small headache.

"The worst part of a party is a cleanup, am I right? I'm glad we managed to pull it off quickly." Cherry nodded.

"Mm-hmm. I can't really remember when I've went to a party like that." wondered Ursula.

It was then that they suddenly noticed the dark mist heading right towards their way.

"Hey what is that strange stuff heading right towards us?" Marvin the Mynci asked.

Bloony noticed it too, and he immediately panicked. "Guys, we've got to get out of here. Now."

"Er, why do we do t-OH NO! RUN!" screamed Cherry, suddenly noticing what Bloony had seen.

"So, I take it that dark mist is something that we need to avoid, then?" Ursula scratched her head.

"It certainly is!" Bloony told her.

"Oh. I guess we should run then."

And so the Heroes of Light started exiting Neopia Central.

However, almost as soon as they left the building, they suddenly found themselves surrounded by both possessed Neopets and members of the Cult of Apocalypse.

"This day keeps getting weirder and weirder..." Marvin the Mynci said out loud.

And once again the Heroes of Light found themselves battling members of the Cult of Apocalypse.

"Get them!" the Gelert cultist told his fellow comrades as well as the possessed Neopets.

Bloony dodged as a possessed Tonu charged straight at him, while Cherry ducked underneath a possessed Scorchio.

Marvin fired a rocket at a Krawk cultist, while Ursula smashed two other members of the cult's heads together.

The Heroes of Light defeated as many members of the cult and as many possessed Neopets as they could, but more of them just kept on coming.

"What are we going to do?" asked Cherry.

"We need to find something that we can use to take down a bunch of them at once..." responded Bloony.

"I know!" Using her immense strength, she picked up a car and threw it at her adversaries, sending many of them flying.

"Good thinking!" congratulated Marvin.

Bloony threw a trash can lid at the possessed Neopets, which in a cartoon-like fashion plowed through many of them like a bulldozer.

Cherry let out an enormous burp, which sent several members of the Cult of the .

Marvin the Mynci flew around on a jetpack, using two peanut launchers to fire at as many of his foes as possible.

"What's the matter with you? They're just child-" the Gelert's question was suddenly answered when Bloony punched him in the face, knocking him out cold.

"Be careful guys! There's likely more of them where that came from..." warned Bloony.

And indeed there were. With the exception of the four Heroes of Light, everyone inside the town had been turned into monsters.

"Wait! Shouldn't we go warn my family about all this?" asked Cherry.

"I suppose that's something we should do..." agreed Bloony.

And so they went to warn the Chia parents about the catastrophe that had happened to Neopia Central...

But as soon as they entered the house, they found something quite unsettling had happened to them.

"Oh no! Not you too!" screamed Cherry.

As it turns out, even Cherry's family had been affected by the evil formula. Cherry's mother had been turned into a nasty witch, capable of using deadly magic. Cherry's father had been turned into a muscular minotaur, about as strong as Ursula. Cherry's little brother had been turned into a gremlin, while her big brother had been turned into a golem. Cherry's grandfather had been turned into a skeleton wearing a cloak and wielding a scythe.

"We've come for your soul..." Cherry's grandfather said, chilling the Heroes of Light to their spine.

The four of them tried to run away, but the door to the house closed shut and sturdy metal bars came around it, trapping them inside.

Suffice to say, fighting Cherry's family was very traumatic and quite painful, particularly for Cherry herself.

"Why did this have to happen?" Cherry cried as she tried to end the battle quickly, striking her little brother.

"RAWR!" said Cherry's baby brother, biting Cherry in the hand and refusing to let go.

Cherry panicked and shook her baby brother like a rag doll, and knocked him into a wall by accident, knocking him out and mysteriously causing him to turn back to normal.

"Goo?" he asked, curious as to what happened.

"At least I got one member of my family back..." thought Cherry, somewhat relieved.

Unfortunately for Cherry, her big brother was not happy about what had happened, and with a war cry of "GRAARGHH!", he rolled up into a ball and rolled straight towards her, running her over and squishing her like a pancake.

"Ouch..." said Cherry, immediately inflating herself up with a air pump she pulled out of hammerspace.

Cherry tried punching her big brother...and instantly regretted doing so as she hurt her hand. "What am I going to do?" she wondered. She then noticed a fire extinguisher nearby, and decided to use it on her brother.

This proved to be surprisingly effective, as apparently in his new golem form her big brother did not like having anything to do with H20. "AARGH!" he screamed, trying to get away from Cherry.

"Sorry big brother, it's for the best." With that, Cherry kept on squirting her brother-turned-golem with the fire extinguisher, which caused him to start to crack.

"Uh-oh..." he said. With that, her big brother shattered into pieces, which strangely caused her brother to turn back to normal fully intact.

"Whoa, that was gnarly." thought Cherry's brother.

Meanwhile Marvin the Mynci was fighting Cherry's mother, who kept trying to zap her with magic.

"I'm going to turn you into a toad!" cackled Cherry's mother.

"Good grief you remind me of Edna...or Sophie!" Marvin told her as he kept dodging her spells.

"I need to try a more accurate spell..." With that, Cherry's mother started quietly chanting a spell.

Marvin was confused by this, and decided to taunt her. "What's wrong? Are you giving up already?"

Marvin's question was suddenly answered when Cherry's mother casted another spell, only this one was different. The spell kept on stalking Marvin, no matter how hard he tried to dodge it.

"What do I do?" thought Marvin. As a last resort, Marvin held out a mirror, and was surprised when the spell was suddenly reflected straight at Cherry's Mother.

"NOOO!" she screamed, suddenly turning into a Mortog. "Ribbit." she said. With that, she suddenly turned back to her normal form. "Heavens!" she exclaimed.

Ursula was fighting Cherry's father, who was getting into a wrestling match of sorts.

"Give it up, puny Usul!" he said.

This made Ursula mad, who threw Cherry's father into a wall.

"You should not done that." With that, Cherry's father charged right at our favorite Blue Usul, but Ursula was prepared for this and grabbed him by the horns.

"You think I'm puny huh? Well watch this!" Ursula threw him straight into a wall. He hit himself right in the head, ending up unconscious.

Cherry's father turned back to normal, stars around his head. "Ugh...my head." he murmured.

Bloony was fighting Cherry's grandfather, who he had deduced correctly as the most dangerous of the five.

"Your time's up!" he screamed, swinging his scythe in all sorts of crazy directions as well as sending flaming skulls at the yellow Blumaroo.

Bloony suddenly remembered what he had heard about the undead as of late, and threw a first aid kit at Cherry's grandfather.

"AARGH!" he yelled, quite hurt by all the handy things for injured people inside of it. Bloony's plan had actually worked.

"Time to lay you to rest..." With that, Bloony pulled out a Blue Scorchstone and threw it at Cherry's grandfather, finally defeating the last member of Cherry's family.

"Huh? I must have dozed off." thought Cherry's grandfather, turning back to normal like all the others.

After the fight was finally over, Cherry's family came to their senses.

"Gosh, we don't know what came over us, Cherry. We're sorry if we hurt you." Cherry's big brother apologized to her.

"It's OK...listen, I think you guys should really barricade the house. There are possessed Neopets all over the place!" Cherry warned her family.

"Alright, we'll get to work on that." answered Cherry's father.

"What about you?" asked Cherry's Grandfather.

"I'm going to leave with Bloony and my friends and see if I can put an end to whatever is happening around Neopia." Cherry said.

"OK. Be careful out there!" Cherry's mother told her child.

With that, the Heroes of Light left the house. But as they left Cherry's family behind, one question remained in their minds...

Why weren't they getting possessed like everyone else?

_And once again this chapter ends in a dramatic showdown...in the next chapter, our heroes will have to deal with a bigger threat...Prof. Nyctus himself!_


	19. Chapter 19: The Mad Doctor

Saving Neopia

**Chapter 19: The Mad Doctor**

Not long after the heroes had saved Cherry's family from the dark influence, they realized they had a problem, and a rather big one with that.

It wasn't just the Cult of Apocalypse and several possessed Neopets they had to deal with. Several airships were in the air, along with one particularly big battleship that was leading them.

Suddenly a mechanically amplified voice came out of the battleship, and with it came out Professor Nyctus's demands.

"ATTENTION HEROES OF LIGHT! If you do not give yourselves up right now, I, Professor Nyctus, am going to join this battle myself against you! And believe me, it is not of your best interest for me to do so...this battleship's got several different weapons...each of which I could use to utterly annihilate you where you currently stand. You've got one hour to give yourself up, as my master currently wants you alive. Understood?" With that, Prof. Nyctus was silent.

"What are we going to do?" asked Ursula. "I don't think we've got a chance against a state-of-the-art machine like that..."

"Funny, I built four aircrafts recently..." Marvin told the others.

"You always seem to be crazy prepared..." Bloony responded. "Are they operational?" he asked.

"Why yes they are..." Marvin told him.

"OK, I think we might have a chance then. But we'll need to be very careful. Understood?" Bloony warned the green Mynci.

"I hope they have enough firepower..." thought Cherry.

And so our heroes went into the battleships, ready to stop the mad doctor from succeeding in his goal.

The heroes looked around the battleships, and were curious how they worked.

"Er, how do we operate these things, and more importantly, how do they fire?" Bloony asked Marvin.

"I designed them to be simplistic...just use the steering wheel to move the ship around and the big red button to fire projectiles."

The heroes tested the ships out, blasting several enemy battleships out of the sky in the process.

"Whoa! That was gnarly!" complimented Cherry.

"Yep...so do you guys think we could pull this off now?" asked Marvin.

"Uh-huh!" answered Ursula.

"Then let's go!" exclaimed Marvin.

And so our heroes went around, shooting several more battleships out in the sky.

"Doctor, we've got a problem." warned a Ruki pilot. "There are four unauthorized ships heading straight towards us! They're shooting down every ship in sight, and they're not responding to our commands!"

"We have to stop them!" shrieked Prof. Nyctus. "Activate ion cannon!"

"Yes doctor!" answered a Cybunny station attendant. Pressing a big blue button, a deadly beam of purple light was fired at the heroes.

"Whoa!" they all said, narrowly dodging the beam.

The heroes kept on going though, shooting more battleships out of the sky. More and more of them exploded, effectively removing them from the fight.

"Why didn't that work!" the doctor said in disbelief. He pressed another button, this time one that was orange. A deadly heat ray came out of it, burning everything that came in its path...including the other battleships.

"Whoa! That was spicy!" exclaimed Marvin.

"Yes, keep an eye out will you, team?" Bloony warned the others.

More and more battleships kept on being blasted out of the sky, namely due to the energy of all the fighters.

The battleships retaliated this time, firing several projectiles of various sizes (which depended on the battleship) at our heroes. Thankfully, they were smart enough to move out of the way before they could hit them.

Eventually though, they started to get worried, believing they may be in trouble if even one of the projectiles ended up striking their ships.

Fortunately Marvin had thought of that as well, and told his team to press the green buttons on the ship. They did so and all of a sudden green force fields appeared around the ships.

Apparently, these would allow them take a certain amount of shots before they would end up disappearing, which effectively gave them more room to breathe.

As a result, they were able to take down more battleships, due to them not being forced to take as many evasive manuevers.

Prof. Nyctus was noticing this as well, and was not pleased. "Why haven't you shot them out of the sky yet?" he angrily demanded from the pilots.

"We're trying, but it's not easy. Their small ships make them very hard to hit, and even then they're always trying to dodge our attacks. And now that they've activated their force fields, we're not really sure what we can do." informed a Bori crewmember.

"AARGH!" screamed Prof. Nyctus. "Activate freeze ray!" he barked.

Pressing a blue button, the Bori crewmember fired the freeze ray. It freezed over several buildings, and nearly hit our heroes.

"Yikes!" screamed Cherry.

Eventually one of the stray bullets hit Bloony, which caused his ship to start smoking.

"Aargh! I've been hit!" exclaimed Bloony.

Thankfully this damage was not enough to cause his ship to crash into the ground, and he was capable of fighting along with his team.

"That does it! Time to use the rockets!" Professor Nyctus said, pressing a brown button that released homing rockets at our heroes.

Our heroes managed to shoot the rockets before they could hit them, but one of them managed to strike Marvin.

"NOO!" he yelled, his ship heading headfirst into the ground.

BOOM!

"MARVIN!" exclaimed Ursula and the others.

Professor Nyctus laughed, satisfied at what had happened. "That's one down, three to go!" he snickered.

Unfortunately for him, this made the other heroes very angry, who focused all their firepower on him. Suddenly out of nowhere the ship caught on fire, and it started shortcircuiting.

"Sir, we've taken extreme damage!" warned a Quiggle.

"What? You're fired!" Professor Nyctus barked at the Cult of Apocalypse member.

Suddenly out of nowhere explosions started to rock the ship. The state-of-the-art ship-of-the-line was about to blow!

"Everyone evacuate!" ordered a Kacheek.

Prof. Nyctus barely managed to escape the wreckage of his vessel, while the others were sent flying into space.

"Don't think this is over Heroes of Light! I'll get you if it's the last thing I ever do!" promised the mad doctor, fleeing in an escape pod.

"Looks like we win...but we should really check on Marvin..." Bloony told his teammates.

And so our teammates went to investigate the crash site.

Marvin was alive, but he looked pretty beat up. "Guys, what happened?" he dizzily asked.

"You got shot out of the sky." Cherry calmly told him.

"Ah...did you guys win?" he asked his teammates.

"Surprisingly yes...against all odds." Ursula assured him.

"OK, well great job...I'm going to take a nap." With that, Marvin passed out on the floor, unconscious.

"Yikes...he's really messed up." Cherry thought out loud.

"You're right, we should probably get him to a hospital...but where should we go?" Ursula asked her teammates.

"I suggest we head to Kiko Lake...they do make medicine and whatnot...such as Kiko Cough Syrup for instance." Bloony suggested.

"Alright, I suppose that's our next destination." Cherry agreed. With that, the three of them dragged Marvin with them, hoping that he would be alright.

_Meanwhile at the Apocalypse Castle..._

"Master, I have some bad news." Fallennova told Lord Cataclysm.

"Yes, what is it?" Lord Cataclysm asked his foremost servant.

Fallennova summoned a television set, and placed a video inside of it, showing what had happened recently, including Prof. Nyctus's defeat and the destruction of his battleship, as well as him retreating.

Lord Cataclysm frowned. Not only had Prof. Nyctus been taken down by the Heroes of Light, he had also tried to outright destroy them after he had specifically told him to keep him alive. In other words, he had completely and utterly failed at his assigned task. "I'm going to have a talk with him later..." Lord Cataclysm said, clenching his fist as he did so.

_Prof. Nyctus has been defeated, but now one of the members of the Heroes of Light is in need of medical attention...can they find Kiko Lake? Or will Martin succumb to his injuries?_


	20. Chapter 20: Helping A Friend

Saving Neopia

**Chapter 20: Helping A Friend**

Professor Nyctus returned to his apprentice, badly bruised and battered.

"Goodness gracious! What happened to you, professor?" he asked, concerned over his wellbeing.

"Let's just say that the Heroes of Light are tougher than they look..." answered the professor, sighing. He was clearly unhappy about how the battle with them had turned out. To think he and his henchmen could be defeated so easily by four measly Neopets...

It confounded him to no end, as he stood there in his laboratory.

Suddenly he heard someone coming into the room. Much to the mad doctor's surprise, it was Lord Cataclysm himself, along with Fallenstar.

"Why Lord Cataclysm! What a pleasant surprise! So, what brings you here?" calmly asked the mad doctor.

Professor Nyctus's question was answered when suddenly he transformed into a Grarrl and let out a tremendous roar, shattering many glass containers inside his laboratory and utterly trashing it.

"AAH! What are you doing?" said the professor, in shock.

"You have failed me one time too many. It's time for you to suffer the consequences." Transforming into a Elephante, he started beating up the mad doctor, jumping on top of him multiple times.

"Please stop..." the professor weakly demanded from his boss.

"Fortunately, I'll let you know that, due to your incompetence my dear professor, I've currently assigned another, more capable member of my cult to take down the Neopets." Transforming back to normal, Lord Cataclysm picked up Steven with one hand, who reacted with shock and surprise.

"Next time you fail me, Doctor, you can say farewell to your apprentice." With that, Lord Cataclysm dropped Steven and left the room along with his right-hand and messenger Fallenstar, who looked at him for a second before leaving with his master.

"Why?" screamed Professor Nyctus. His research, his machines, his pride, everything had left him thanks to Lord Cataclysm.

"It's OK professor, we'll get everything running again." Steven reassured him, although he was not sure about what he said himself.

"Thanks for the support..." the professor thanked his assistant.

_Meanwhile at Kiko Lake..._

"Well, here we are." said Ursula, happy that they arrived at their destination.

"Hopefully we can get that medicine for Marvin..." Bloony thought.

"We have a problem though." Cherry told Bloony.

Bloony looked around him, and he saw several Kikos of different colors heading straight towards them. They were obviously possessed as well.

The very sight of this made Bloony angry. He was aware of what was happening to Neopia, and the sight of this only made things worse for him. To think, the cheerful, innocent Kikos (just like the Blumaroos) had been turned into these monsters.

Suddenly Bloony snapped. Picking up a tree branch, he charged straight at them, knocking as many Kikos out of the way as possible.

He vowed that he would not let whoever was responsible for what was happening to Neopia get away with what they had done.

"AARGH!" yelled Bloony, taking down many Kikos in a single blow. His anger had turned him into quite a powerful force.

Eventually there was nothing stopping him from reaching the Kiko Lake Pharmacy, save for a Black Kiko that appeared appeared to be the chieftain of Kiko Lake.

"YAHH!" screamed Bloony, striking the Kiko Chieftain on the head.

The Kiko Chieftain retaliated by using a spear, which he used to stab Bloony with.

"OUCH!" exclaimed Bloony, who simply kept on fighting.

The Kiko Chieftain and Bloony went at it for about an hour or so, not pausing between fighting.

"Gosh, they sure have been fighting fiercely." thought Ursula out loud.

"Yes, I wonder how much longer Marvin can hold out though." worried Cherry.

"I want lollipops..." murmured Marvin.

The Kiko Chieftain fiercely dueled Bloony, repeatedly trying to strike the yellow Blumaroo with his spear, but eventually he was forced to yield.

Suddenly out of nowhere the clouds that were previously around Kiko Lake disappeared, and all the Kikos returned to normal.

"What happened?" asked a Red Kiko.

"I feel dizzy..." a Blue Kiko shook his head.

"I want my mommy!" exclaimed a Yellow Kiko.

"What happened?" wondered Bloony.

"Ah, I thank you for your assistance, my dear Neopet. That dark force that took control of us...it was something sinister indeed. If it weren't for you we might have never been freed." the Kiko Chieftain congratulated Bloony.

"Thanks, we were just looking for medicine for our friend...he got beaten up recently." Bloony told the Kiko Chieftain.

"Oh, well in that case we won't stop you..." answered the chieftain, who immediately allowed Bloony inside the pharmacy.

Inside the Kiko Lake pharmacy, Bloony found what he needed, and used various bandages and other medicine on Marvin, who immediately opened his eyes.

"Thanks for helping me. That doctor really did a number on me, didn't he?" asked Marvin.

"He certainly did. But I'm glad you're OK now!" squealed Ursula, who started hugging Marvin (which unfortunately choked the oxygen out of him due to her extreme strength).

"AARGH! You're choking me!" exclaimed Marvin.

"Whoops! Sorry about that!" answered Ursula, who let go of the poor Green Mynci.

"I'm glad you're alright now...but where should we go now? I suppose if we managed to free Kiko Lake from the clutches of evil, we could do it in other places as well..." asked Cherry.

Pulling out a map of Neopia, Bloony carefully glanced at the map. "Let's see here..." thought Bloony. After carefully checking his options, he eventually decided on one particular place.

"I say we go to Brightvale. It would be a good place for us to stack up on supplies...but for the time being I suppose we should stay in Kiko Lake for now."

"Right." agreed the others.

And so the Heroes of Light looked for a place to stay, which was easier than expected mainly due to the fact how grateful the Kikos were for saving their town from darkness.

Eventually they decided to stay at one of the houses, which thankfully had several beds for them to use.

"This must be our lucky day." thought Bloony.

_Meanwhile at Brightvale Prison..._

"You know I've thought of something you guys." Snotty told his team of scoundrels who were currently at the cafeteria. "Sure, prison might be horribly unpleasant, but there's something worthwhile we could actually do here."

"Like...what?" asked Redtooth.

"Plot revenge on the cretins that got us here in the first place!" exclaimed Snotty.

The other members of the Villains of Darkness clapped and cheered, which caused the other inmates to look at them in confusion.

"So, any ideas?" Snotty asked.

"How about we make them eat their vegetables?" asked Redtooth.

"That's too good for them." Snotty disapproved.

"Let's make them watch Bernie and Friends." Jennifer suggested.

"You mean that show with that purple singing Grarrl? Jennifer, how could you even suggest something so heinous and vile?" responded Snotty, who surprisingly thought that would be going too far. With that, he sighed. "Does anyone here have a decent idea?"

Suddenly Rocky noticed something about Snotty. "You know, Rocky just notice something, you and that yellow Blumaroo leader guy look strangely alike...only difference is that you and yellow dude are different colors." he said his thoughts out loud.

"Rocky, you're a genius!" blurted out Snotty.

"Rocky is? Jennifer and Redtooth usually call Rocky dumb." Rocky replied.

"Yes well, for once you've actually said something smart for a change. I've just thought of the perfect plan...now, all we need to do is get out of here..." said Snotty.

"Funny, I can't help but notice that you were looking around for a means of escape." Suddenly, Snotty and the Villains of Darkness noticed a rather shady-looking Tonu standing right next to him.

"Funny you should mention that. We've been trying to do that ever since we got stuck in here." answered Redtooth.

"Well, I've got something that might interest you...but you'll need to be quiet. There are guards everywhere and they might hear you." Whispering into Snotty and the others' ears, he told them to meet him at his cell near curfew.

The others thanked him, and they proceeded to continue eating at the cafeteria, only with grins of satisfaction on their faces.

_Uh-oh! It looks like the Villains of Darkness are plotting a jailbreak! Will they succeed? And by the way, what do you think of Lord Cataclysm now?_


	21. Chapter 21: Brightvale and Meridell

Saving Neopia

**Chapter 21: Brightvale and Meridell**

_At the Apocalypse Castle..._

Fallennova came into the throne room, ready to tell his master the bad news of what had happened at Kiko Lake.

"Yes, what is it now?" Lord Cataclysm asked his servant.

"About Kiko Lake...I'm afraid the Heroes of Light have managed to reclaim it...it's no longer under Cult of Apocalypse control." Fallennova glumly told him.

Lord Cataclysm was not happy about this, clenching his fist once again. "Blast those Heroes of Light! I'm glad I sent that associate of mine after them...that reminds me, I should contact him now." Lord Cataclysm said, pulling out a strange device.

A hologram of Lord Cataclysm's elite minion, known by his friends as Shuriken came into view on top of the device.. He was a Silver Meerca, only wearing ninja garb. "Yes, what is it? Can't you see I've got a job to do?" he asked. Suddenly Shruiken noticed who was speaking to him. "Oh it's you! So, why are you contacting me, oh supreme leader?" he asked.

"Have you had any luck tracking down the ones who defeated Professor Nyctus?" he questioned his subordinate.

"Why yes, I'm picking up a trail, and it seems that they are currently heading to Brightvale." the Meerca ninja told his master.

"Good, do whatever you wish to them, just make sure they make it to me alive." ordered Lord Cataclysm.

"Alright, but why do you want them that way?" the Meerca ninja curiously asked.

"Well if you must know, ninja, I need them alive simply so I can study them. In case you haven't noticed, my little chemical doesn't have any effect on them." Lord Cataclysm told Shuriken.

"Really? Because as far as I know whenever a Neopet even touches the chemical they end up turning into a loyal servant of yours." the Shuriken curiously responded.

"Yes well, these Neopets are different. Besides, there's another reason. These four Neopets have proven time and time again to be quite a nuisance. It was bad enough they managed to defeat one of my best minions...now they've managed to reclaim an area from my clutches. I need someone to make sure they will not be an issue any longer." Lord Cataclysm kept on talking.

"I see...well don't worry a thing Lord Cataclysm! I'll take care of this!" With that, Shuriken stopped talking, turning off the device.

"I certainly hope he does..." Lord Cataclysm replied. He suddenly took off his hood, which Fallennova took notice of.

To Fallennova, Lord Cataclysm's face looked like that of a hero's (even if he really wasn't one).

_At Prof. Nyctus's Laboratory...located elsewhere in the castle..._

Prof. Nyctus was struggling to repair his lab, along with his trusted assistant Steven. Lord Cataclysm had really done a number on it.

"Why?" screamed the professor, sadly. Thanks to his very own boss, he would have to start much of his evil research over from scratch, and he had come close to completing several of his projects too.

"It's OK professor, we'll repair all the damage eventually." reassured his assistant.

"I hope we do..." responded the Korbat..

"By the way, did you see what was underneath his hood? It was crazy, doctor!" exclaimed Steven. "It was scary...he looked like some kind of monster clown! I think it might be even more mad than you professor...no offense."

"Meh, people call me insane all the time. Then again I suppose I can't be a mad scientist without actually being mad, can I? Otherwise I'd just be a scientist...and that's not particularly interesting." answered the mad doctor.

Deciding to look at what Lord Cataclysm was doing, he saw what Steven had seen, and subsquently agreed with him, he did look like some sort of monster clown.

"Why did I ever decide to work with him again?" wondered the doctor.

_At Brightvale..._

"Well, here we are, guys!" Bloony informed his teammates.

Once again it had taken a while for our heroes to get from one place to another, but naturally they had reached their destination.

"Gosh, would you look at this place!" remarked Cherry. There were several shops around, as well as some other tourist attractions, with the Wheel of Knowledge being a particularly noteworthy example.

Bloony decided to spin the wheel for some NPs, and ended up getting a book.

"Interesting." thought Bloony, who quickly read the book from start to end...and it naturally ended up exploding into smoke.

"Ah yes, for some reason these always end up bursting into smoke whenever you finish reading them..." Bloony then proceeded to wonder why this kept on happening...and decided it was best not to dwell on it.

"Hey look there's a castle up ahead!" Cherry exclaimed. As it turns out, there was a castle up ahead, and a particularly huge one at that. It loomed over the entire town, and was both green and yellow.

Curious, Bloony and Cherry entered the castle.

Much to their surprise, Bloony and Cherry found that the castle was filled with books. It was like a giant library, as well as many research rooms for scholars.

"Interesting...I think whoever's in charge of this castle is a lot like me..." Bloony thought.

Our heroes continued touring the castle, and eventually found themself in the throne room itself, where King Hagan, a royal and wise Green Skeith was seated.

"Greetings travelers! Might I ask what you two are doing here?"

It was then that Bloony and Cherry noticed that Marvin and Ursula were both missing.

"I wonder where they went?" Cherry scratched her head.

Bloony was the one who answered King Hagan's question. "Er, we're travelers." answered Bloony.

"Oh! Well in that case do you have any wisdom for me?" he calmly asked.

Bloony thought for a moment, and said "Don't try too hard to run away from death?"

King Hagan was apparently impressed by this, as he subsquently gave Bloony a book.

"Thank you for your hospitality." said Cherry.

Bloony and Cherry left the throne room. Bloony took a look at the book, which apparently was about the history of Brightvale.

"Would you look at that?" Bloony thought.

_Meanwhile in Meridell..._

"Darn it Marvin! Why'd you have to get us lost?" Ursula angrily asked Marvin.

"I'm sorry!" apologized Marvin.

They looked around town, and saw several tourist attractions similar albeit different to Brightvale's, such as Turdle Racing and Kiss the Mortog.

"Golly." thought Marvin.

Up ahead was the Medi Acres Farms, where there were several other tourist attractions, such as potato counting and guessing the weight of extremely heavy vegetables.

"Gosh." thought Ursula.

Marvin did surprisingly well at both of these fun games, and ended up receiving a helping of Neopoints.

"I'm a lucky Mynci." said Marvin.

On the way back to Meridell, Marvin and Ursula noticed a glade up ahead, and decided to enter.

Inside, they found Illusen, who was widely regarded by many to be the most powerful Earth Faerie in existence, and a particularly pretty one as well. She was also considered Jhudora's arch-nemesis, although nobody really knows why they are always at odds with each other. Perhaps it was something Jhudora did to Illusen? Or was it something one of them said? Likely it was partly due to the fact that the two of them having very different personalities, Illusen being lawfully good while Jhudora was chaotically evil.

"Hello! What brings you two Neopets here?" she asked.

Anyways, Marvin must have thought Illusen was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen, because he kept stuttering whenever he talked to her Ursula was not amused by this. "We-we're from kind of f-far away, and we d-decided to l-look around..." Marvin told the Earth Faerie.

"Oh. Well would you mind doing me a favor?" she politely asked. "I'm looking for a Chokato..." she politely asked him.

Marvin dashed off and came back with a Chokato at almost lightning speed, which caused Ursula to roll her eyes. "Were you looking for this?"

Illusen thanked the green Mynci, and gave him a cream cookie, which he happily ate.

"We'll be leaving now." Ursula told Illusen, dragging the lovestruck Marvin by the arm outside of the glade.

Illusen waved goodbye as they left, although Ursula did not pay any notice.

They eventually went to Meridell Castle, where they saw famous citizens of Meridell, such as Count Boris, Kayla, Lisha, and even Jeran. Eventually they encountered King Skarl himself, who was slouching on his throne.

"Yes, what do you want? Are you here to tell me a joke? Or are you just wasting my time?" he demanded from the two Neopets.

Marvin thought of a joke to tell King Skarl, and eventually came up with one that he could tell his royal highness.

"OK? Why did the Peadackle cross the road?" joked Marvin.

"I dunno, why?" asked King Skarl.

"Because he couldn't afford a taxi!" answered the Mynci.

For some reason, this set King Skarl off, who started laughing in hysterics. As a reward, Marvin got more Neopoints, as well as some food.

"I wonder why he found that so funny?" wondered Ursula.

Marvin shrugged.

Eventually Marvin and Ursula went to the borderline between Meridell and Brightvale...

Which interestingly enough was where Bloony and Cherry were.

"Hey guys!" exclaimed Cherry.

"I'm glad we managed to find you...we were worried that the Cult of Apocalypse might have caught you..." Bloony said in relief.

"Well we're all here now." Ursula assured Bloony.

"Yep, Meridell sure is an interesting place...and so is Brightvale, apparently." Marvin complimented.

The others nodded in agreement.

"So, what should we do now?" Cherry questioned her teammates.

It was then that they suddenly heard a loud crashing sound...it sounded like a stall being knocked over.

"What was that?" Bloony cried out in alarm.

_We'll leave that thought for another chapter...until then stay tuned!_


	22. Chapter 22: Gary the Grarrl

Saving Neopia

**Chapter 22: Gary The Grarrl**

"YOU SABOTAGED MY BOOTH!" bellowed an angry Zafara shopkeeper, who had been selling several plushies until it had been tipped over by a Purple Grarrl when he moved his tail, who judging from his reaction had done it accidentally.

"Whoops! Sorry!" he apologized to the shopkeeper.

The Zafara grumbled angrily and started putting his stall back up, picking up the produce that had fallen on the floor as he did so.

"I wonder who that Grarrl is?" wondered Cherry.

"He seems pretty clumsy, he keeps tipping things over!" noted Marvin, as he helped the shopkeeper pick up his stuff.

"Might I ask who you are?" Bloony asked the Grarrl nicely.

"My name is Gary...I just arrived here from Tyrannia a few days ago...but unfortunately I keep breaking things by accident wherever I go! I just don't know why..." Gary acknowledged sadly.

"I see..." Bloony scratched his head. "You know, maybe you should watch where you were going."

"Right, I'll try to do that." Gary the Grarrl said, but just as he went to walk once more...

CRASH! An angry Chomby shouted at Gary "What's the big idea?". Of course, his stall had been knocked over too, spilling the fruit he had been selling all over the place, forcing him to fix his stall as well.

Bloony sighed. Perhaps he needed some help?

Cherry went up to Gary and asked him "Maybe we need to do something about your tail? It keeps knocking things over."

Gary scratched his head. "That does seem to be the problem, now that I think of it."

And so the Heroes of Light decided to do something about Gary's tail...forcing it in an upwards position using some rather sticky glue that Marvin had brought (again, he had been crazy prepared)...

And unfortunately he ended up falling onto yet another stall due to lack of balance caused by the Heroes of Light.

"AARGH! Ye rotten landlubber! Why'd ye have to do that?" screamed a pirate Krawk, who had been selling some fish (ranging from Breadfish, Butterfish, and Waterfish, no less) at that particular stall.

"What are we to do?" Cherry scratched her head, trying to think up some ideas.

"I suppose we should get him somewhere where he won't cause so much destruction for now." Bloony suggested.

And so the Heroes of Light took Gary to a place where he wouldn't cause so much destruction due to his clumsiness...

"Thanks for trying to help me..." Gary thanked the Heroes of Light.

"No problem..." Bloony answered the Purple Grarrl.

"I always seem to be wrecking things..." Gary whimpered, upset about being a natural weapon of mass destruction (as with all members of his species).

"It's OK...we'll find a way to help you...until then just stick with us so you won't cause any more problems, alright?" he assured the prehistoric Neopet.

"Alright..."

And thus the Heroes of Light acquired their fifth member...

But at that very moment...the Villains of Darkness were preparing to execute another one of their evil plans...

_At the Brightvale Prison...late at night..._

Snotty and the rest of the Villains of Darkness followed the Tonu to his cell, where there was a hole in the wall.

"So, this is the escape tunnel you built?" Snotty asked curiously.

"It doesn't seem to be quite finished." Redtooth told the Tonu.

"Yes...I know." the Fire Tonu answered the skeptical Lupe. "I've been building it for quite some time, but I think I need somebody muscular to actually finish the tunnel so I can escape, it'd be worthwhile if you could do something to assist me...as it would allow you to escape as well."

"That won't be a problem. Oh Rocky!" Snotty whistled.

Soon enough the Tyrannian Mynci came by and started smashing through the tunnel with his brute strength, eventually creating an entrance to the land beyond, where they would finally be free.

"Me done!" he exclaimed, satisfied with his work.

"This is our lucky day. We're free!" grinned Redtooth.

"Finally! That prison was filled with ugly Neopets! I'm surprised I didn't go blind!" shuddered Jennifer.

"Your assistance was much obliged." the Fire Tonu thanked the Villains of Darkness.

"By the way my Tonu friend, what exactly were you placed in this prison for?" Snotty curiously asked him as they finally escaped the prison they had been trapped in for quite some time (at least it felt like a long time for the Villains of Darkness, who hadn't been in prison up until recently).

"Well if you must know...I'm in here for assaulting several Neopets..." With that, he suddenly charged at a nearby Cybunny, who shrieked and tried to move out of the way, only to be sent flying several miles.

"Impressive! I think I'll add you to my roster, Tonu, if you so accept..." Snotty complimented the vicious Fire Tonu as he asked him to join his team.

"I accept. And my name's Cinder by the way." he acknowledged the villainous green Blumaroo.

"Alright...everyone, the Villains of Darkness is back in action!" Snotty cackled.

The five of them left the prison, each thinking of nasty things they could do now that they had escaped...

_Elsewhere in Brightvale..._

"I've got a feeling that bad things are going to happen in the future." Bloony suddenly said out loud,.

"What makes you say that?" asked Cherry, curious as to what could be so ominous towards the yellow Blumaroo.

"I don't know, I just felt that way all of a sudden. Then again, it's probably nothing you guys should be worked up over."

"If you say so." Marvin answered.

And so the Heroes of Light continued on their way...looking for a place to stay for the time being.

_Oh no! The Villains of Darkness have escaped from prison in an extremely cliche manner! It looks like the Heroes of Light may be in trouble...and to make matters worse they have a new member on their side...things are not looking good for the Heroes of Light..._

_In the next chapter...we'll get to learn more about the mysterious assassin Lord Cataclysm sent to snag the Heroes of Light for him...so until next time!_


	23. Chapter 23: Jailbreak

Saving Neopia

**Chapter 23: Jailbreak**

_At a house located in Meridell….._

"WHAT?" screamed Bloony.

Bloony was looking at the newspaper, and was quite unpleased at what had happened recently. Apparently, there had been a major jailbreak (as it said in the headlines) at Brightvale Prison, and unfortunately the Villains of Darkness were the criminals that had broken out.

Of course, there were also other stories in the newspaper, such as strange reports of evil Myncis, zombie Neopets, and other absurd things coming from the Underworld to find the living and do things to them that would be far too violent to put in a story like this, but that was something completely unrelated (and something Bloony thought was probably untrue) that would not be of any importance to this tale.

"This is definitely not good." The yellow Blumaroo thought. And indeed it wasn't, at least for him and his teammates.

Bloony told the others what had happened as of late and told them they had best prepare in case the Villains of Darkness would cause trouble again (which they inevitably would due to their evil nature).

"So let me get this straight, the Villains of Darkness have somehow escaped from one of the maximum security prisons in the world? I can understand that they would be able to escape from a prison made out of cardboard, but this is very peculiar." Cherry thought.

"Well it's happened before." Marvin assured her. "It doesn't happen very often, but it has happened before nonetheless. According to the newspaper, they apparently used an escape tunnel of some kind that another prisoner had built. How odd."

"Well this is great. Now they're free to cause more mayhem and terrorize more innocent civilians." Ursula pouted. "And to think we located their hideout and fought them just so we could make sure that they wouldn't do any more harm to us or to any more innocent Neopets."

Just then Gary came by, curious to what was going on between the four Neopets. "Is something the matter?" he asked, concerned.

"I'm afraid so. These criminals that aren't exactly friends of ours escaped from prison, and we believe they're probably going to attack us again in order to get payback on us." Bloony informed him.

"I see, is there anything I can do to help?" he asked politely.

"Not that we don't appreciate the support, but I think you should stay out of this. The Villains of Darkness are considered armed and dangerous by both us and the police…..and are guilty of many different crimes, at least according to their criminal profiles we found on the Internet." Bloony informed him once again.

"Oh, I see." Gary walked off back to our heroes's current shelter (a house which some Meridell Neopets had allowed them to stay in for a while) while Bloony and his teammates formulated a plan.

"So, what do you suggest we do?" ask Marvin.

"Prepare ourselves for anything, I guess." Bloony warned his teammates.

And so our heroes prepared for their next showdown with the Villains of Darkness. They bought several scrolls from the Brightvale Shop (including healing scrolls), they rented some weapons and armor from Meridell and Brightvale, and last but not least ate some food so that they would not run out of energy during their next battle.

But at that very moment Snotty (and the rest of the Villains of Darkness were formulating) their next plan….one that was particularly malicious and spiteful.

_In the Meridell Sewers….._

"Alright, here's what we need to do. Cinder, Jennifer, Redtooth, you cause mayhem among the general public and whatnot in Meridell to get the Heroes of Light's attention. Rocky and I will lure Bloony into a trap…and that's where the real plan begins…." Snotty suddenly laughed out loud, in quite a good mood. He had never felt this good (or should I say evil?) since he broke out of prison.

"Got it. I think I'm going to enjoy this!" grinned Cinder with satisfaction.

"I just hope I don't break a nail." Jennifer complained.

"So, let me get this straight, you want Rocky to stay with you while we go out and terrorize the general populace?" Redtooth asked his boss, dusting off his fur as he did so.

"Exactly." Snotty replied to the blue Lupe.

"Why you want me to stay with you?" Rocky curiously wondered. "I thought me was going to terrorize populace too!"

"Because I've got something different planned for you. Something that would involve some muscle….which you seem to have to make up for your apparent lack of brains." Again, Snotty grinned with satisfaction.

He had already plotted his latest scheme. Now all that was left was to successfully pull it off.

"Yes….soon Bloony and his friends will pay…they shall suffer just as I suffered….." he thought.

It was a good thing that the Heroes of Light were preparing themselves for their encounter, because Snotty had far from good intentions for them.

Unbeknownst to them though, the Villains of Darkness were currently being spied upon by another black-hearted scoundrel, who was particularly interested in their connection with the Heroes of Light.

"Interesting." Shuriken thought. "Apparently we aren't the only ones who wish to deal with the Heroes of Light. I'll have to keep that in mind in the future….and perhaps I should tell the boss while I'm at it? He would most likely be pleased if I could convince others to join his cause….the more the merrier apparently." Shuriken jumped out of the shadows and instantly left the sewers, unseen by anyone.

"Did you hear something?" Redtooth asked.

Well, not unheard.

"It must be your imagination. Now where were we? Ah yes. Getting our sweet, succulent revenge on the Heroes of Light!" Snotty cackled.

_I suppose we can only hope that the Heroes of Light will make it out of this OK….but what could Snotty possibly be planning to do with them? You'll find out soon in the next chapter, so until then just keep on waiting._


	24. Chapter 24: Identity Theft

Saving Neopia XXIV

**Chapter 24: Identity Theft**

After preparing themselves for their next encounter with the Villains of Darkness, our heroes assembled together.

"Are you guys ready?" Bloony asked.

They all nodded.

"Good, because I think they might be here any second…" Bloony thought.

And soon enough the Villains of Darkness did arrive, followed by screaming as several citizens ran away from them as they did several evil things.

"Get ready team!" Bloony ordered. "By the way, just to let you know, I'll be monitoring you to check to see how you are doing and if you need assistance. Is that alright with you?"

The teammates nodded.

"Good. I bought these communication devices recently, so these should help. Oh and Gary, remember to stay hidden." Bloony handed each of his allies one of each, including Gary himself in case he got into trouble.

And so the Heroes of Light decided which member of the Heroes of Light would take down which member of the Villains of Darkness….

_At a local farm…._

Naturally, Cherry decided to taken down Redtooth, her Villains of Darkness counterpart. He was busy eating all the produce that a farmer had, albeit while wiping his face as he did so.

"Hey! Cut that out!" the farmer demanded.

Redtooth bared his fangs at him.

"You can have them!" he answered.

Redtooth laughed. "Scaredy-Kougra.

"Hey Redtooth! Catch me you can!" Cherry taunted, blowing raspberries at him.

"You stupid Chia! You're going to be my main course!" Redtooth bellowed. Once again a game of Kadoatie-and-Miamouse began between the Red Chia and the Blue Lupe.

As usual, Cherry found a way to thwart her archenemy, this time dressing up as a farmer who was selling some Snorkles.

"Giving out free Snorkles!" Cherry yelled.

Redtooth stopped chasing Cherry for a moment, apparently looking forward to having something to eat (well aside from Cherry herself of course).

"I'll take one!" answered Redtooth.

"Here you go!" said Cherry, giving Redtooth a Snorkle.

"Thanks!" Redtooth thanked her. But just as he put it in his hands.

KABOOM! The Snorkle exploded in his face. As it turns out, it was actually a bomb.

"How could I be tricked so easily?" Redtooth thought, right before he passed out from the explosion.

Cherry laughed, drawing stuff on Redtooth's face.

However, as she did so a real Snorkle came up to her, curiously enough. Apparently he took a liking to her, as he rubbed up against her leg.

"Huh, would you look at that." Cherry said out loud. Cherry decided to take the Snorkle with her, as she thought it looked somewhat cute.

She decided to name him Porkins.

_At the Meridell Castle Treasury…._

"Give me all the money in this treasury!" Jennifer demanded.

"Why should we do that?" asked one of the guards curiously.

Jennifer pulled out her watch, and suddenly swung it around the two guards' eyes. Pretty soon they were hypnotized!

"Yes, you can have all the money you want." The guards answered.

Jennifer laughed. However, before she could help herself to all the Neopoints inside….

"Stop right there!" Ursula shouted.

Marvin came running up to Ursula to assist her as well.

"Shouldn't you be with Rocky?" she asked.

"It's weird, I can't find him anywhere." he answered.

"Even with your little boyfriend here, you'll never defeat me!" Jennifer taunted.

"He's not my boyfriend!" Ursula answered.

"Whatever!" Pulling out the same watch she had used before, she hypnotized Marvin…and made her attack Jennifer!

"Must obey Jennifer…." He murmured, trying to blast Ursula with his peanut shooters.

"What's wrong with you?" Ursula stated as he started attacking her.

"Hmm, he seems to be under a trance of some kind." thought Ursula. "I guess I'll just need to find some way to snap him out of it…but how do I do that?"

"You really shouldn't have tried to stop me again, you know. In case you haven't noticed, life isn't a video game!" Jennifer told her adversary.

It was then that Ursula suddenly got an idea. "Hey Marvin, I think she has a copy of Neopets: The Darkest Faerie!"

This put Marvin back to his senses. "What? Let me see!" he demanded, bumping into Jennifer and knocking her down.

"Can you give me it? Please I want it so badly!" Marvin asked her.

"Get off of me!" Jennifer shouted.

Ursula took the opportunity to punch Jennifer straight in the face. Due to her super strength, this packed quite a…well punch.

"Why do I see stars? I thought I was robbing a vault." Jennifer wondered, right before passed out.

Marvin and Ursula high-fived.

"I wonder where Rocky is?" Marvin thought.

"I'm sure he'll pop up eventually." Ursula assured him.

_At Gary's Hiding Spot (a small house currently uninhabited)…._

Gary thought to himself "Is it safe to come out yet?"

Bloony had said that he should stay hidden from the Villains of Darkness (as they were dangerous), but he was starting to get impatient.

He decided he should be fine if he went out of hiding for just a while, so he decided to look around.

For a moment it seemed like the coast was clear….

But soon enough he saw a Fire Tonu outside, charging at several innocent Neopets.

"Oh no! He must be one of them!" Gary worried.

Unfortunately Cinder spotted him through the window. "Oh, so you want some too, huh? That's fine by me!"

The Fire Tonu ran inside the building Gary used as a hideout and charged straight at the Purple Grarrl, and he didn't know what to do. He decided to cover his eyes and look the other way, ready to accept whatever Cinder did to him.

And suddenly Cinder was sent flying several feet when he accidentally swung his tail in the process.

"AARGH!" Cinder screamed, getting sent flying into a building. He was injured by the impact, with several bruises.

"You'll pay for that!" he said, charging at Gary once again.

But this time Gary realized what he could do to stop him. He dropped some slippery soap on the floor. As soon as Cinder charged, he slipped straight over it and crashed into a cupboard full of dishes, pelting him with broken plates.

Gary kept on doing this, making Cinder slip over a banana peel and crash into a refridgerator (which fell on top of him),making him crash into a bathtub using some shampoo, and making him crash into a window using his tail again, until eventually Cinder was too tired to move.

"I'll…get…you…some…day…" Cinder promised, passing out shortly afterwards.

Gary was glad he could help his teammates, even if they told him to stay hidden (which he had ultimately failed to do) and stay away from the Villains of Darkness (which he had failed to do also).

He wondered how the others were doing.

_At Bloony's Viewage Point…_

Bloony contacted his teammates, asking him how they were doing. Much to his happiness, they were doing very well, and had already taken down two members of the Villains of Darkness.

He also received a message from Gary himself stating he had defeating another member of the Villains of Darkness, much to Bloony's surprise.

"Didn't I tell you to stay hidden?" Bloony asked sternly. "Oh well, all that matters is that you're safe I suppose. I wonder how you managed to actually take down a member?"

"He seemed to enjoy charging, so I made him crash into several different objects." Gary replied.

"Good thinking. I suppose you're capable of handling yourself after all, just make sure to be careful."

"Alright."

Bloony turned off the communication device." So far so good." he thought.

But there was a problem though. Apparently, none of them were able to find Rocky or Snotty. Where could those two be?

Bloony told his companions to return to him for the time being, mainly so they could decide their next move.

Bloony wondered what his evil counterpart and his Tyrannian Mynci henchman could be doing, when suddenly out of nowhere he found his arms had suddenly been pinned to his back.

"What the-" Bloony thought, and looked around him and saw Rocky, who was holding on to them.

"HOW DARE YOU GRAB MY YELLOW ARMS! LET GO!" demanded Bloony. But of course he did not.

Soon enough Snotty came by as well, with an evil grin on his face. "Nice to see you again, Bloony! We haven't seen each other in a while, now have we? Oh well. It's always nice to have a reunion."

"You won't get away with this, Snotty!" Bloony told his evil counterpart.

"Relax Bloony, I've got it all planned." Snotty assured him.

"My friends are returning to me as we speak. Pretty soon you'll be locked up once again."

"Oh really? I guess we'll have to do something about that!"

Snotty suddenly pulled out a Yellow Paintbrush, and used it to paint himself yellow. Pretty soon he looked just like Bloony himself!

"Isn't it amazing? I'm your doppelganger now!" Snotty exclaimed.

"You are crazy, Snotty! You'll end up behind bars anyway!" shouted Bloony.

"I've thought of that, which is why that was only half of my plan….Rocky, if you please!"

Rocky suddenly pulled out his club and knocked Bloony out cold. Using a Green Paintbrush, he painted Bloony green so that he would look just like Snotty as well.

"Very good. Now unless you want the Heroes of Light to Gelertpile you, I'd suggest you knock yourself out right now." He handed Rocky a communication device. "Use this to let me know if Bloony escapes from prison, will you?"

"Alright boss, if you say so." Rocky knocked himself out as well with his club.

The Heroes of Light came a short while later.

"Did you take those two out by yourself?" Cherry asked curiously.

"Well yeah. I'm not really sure how I did it, but I did." Snotty told his enemies.

"Oh alright then. I've already notified the police, and they should pick up these villains in a moment."

Soon enough the police arrived, and the Villains of Darkness were arrested once again (with the exception of Snotty).

Unfortunately due to Snotty's latest scheme, Bloony was mistaken for the leader of the Villains of Darkness, and he ended up arrested instead!

"What happened?" Bloony wondered. He looked around him, and saw he was being placed into a van of some kind. "Wait, what's going on?"

And so Bloony ended up being hauled off to prison instead of Snotty…..

Snotty smirked as he saw Bloony being hauled off to prison. "Revenge is so sweet….."

"I suppose it is…but don't you think we should just do what we have to do?" Marvin asked Snotty.

"Hmm? Oh yeah, right. I just wanted to say it felt good to have the Villains of Darkness out of my fur once again."

Snotty was very happy. His plan had worked. But then he thought of something.

"What if I get the other Heroes of Light busted as well? They'll learn exactly how it feels to be in prison for so long…..and then my fellow Villains of Darkness members will be free to do whatever they wish…once I get them out of prison of course."

This made him laugh out loud.

"What's so funny?" asked Ursula.

"Oh, nothing really, I just thought of a joke."

"If you say so." Gary replied.

_Oh no! Bloony's been arrested for a crime he didn't commit! Can he get out of jail and warn the others? Or will Snotty succeed in his evil plans?_


	25. Chapter 25: Behind Bars

Saving Neopia

**Chapter 25: Behind Bars**

When Bloony came to, he almost immediately realized that something was wrong.

Much to his surprise, he found that he was in jail, and that he had been mysteriously painted green, apparently by a magic paintbrush or using the Rainbow Fountain. He did not remember ever making a visit to the Rainbow Pool or robbing the Neopian Bank (or committing some other crime against society), so this was quite baffling indeed.

"What's going on here? Why am I in jail?" Bloony asked curiously.

He then remembered what had happened earlier, and realized what had happened to him.

"That wicked evil twin of mine stole my identity! He's probably up to cause more mayhem as I speak! I have to stop him!" Bloony declared.

Bloony clutched on to the bars of his prison cell. "But to do that, I have to get out of jail….how am I going to get out of here?" wondered Bloony.

Bloony looked for a way out, but it seemed like there wasn't any way to escape the prison cell.

"What am I going to do?" thought Bloony. "My friends are in trouble!"

_Meanwhile in Brightvale…._

"Phew, I'm glad we managed to defeat those clowns again….they always seem to be causing trouble." Marvin sighed with relief.

"Ah yes." said Cherry, attending to her new pet Snorkle, who was eating heavily.

"Where'd you get the Snorkle?" asked Ursula curiously, noticing his frequent squealing as Cherry gave him some more food.

"It's a long story…." answered Cherry, recalling how she had defeated her nemesis once again.

"So, what are you going to do, Bloony?" Gary questioned Snotty, who was laughing to himself over his latest triumphant scheme, although the Heroes of Light did not take much notice to this.

"I'm working on baking a cake, if you really must know." replied Snotty.

"Alright, I suppose we'll leave you to that." The others left Snotty to work on making the delicious dessert.

What the others didn't realize however, is what Snotty was planning to do for the cake. For one thing, he was planning on delivering the cake to his friends. The other….

"Ah yes, these pieces of metal should do quite nicely." Snotty snickered evilly, putting them inside the cake mix.

That's right; Snotty was planning on busting his henchmen out of prison.

"Alright, this cake should be done in an hour or too." Snotty grinned with satisfaction. "But what should I do then?"

Suddenly, Snotty got an idea. If he could impersonate Bloony and cause him to get sent to jail, why not do it with the other members of the Heroes of Light as well?

"I'm sure my friends will be pleased." Snotty laughed.

And so he went to Kauvara's Shop (which was located in Neopia Central, so he took a taxi) and bought several morphing potion for later use.

By then, his cake was already done, so he went back and took the cake out of the oven. Fortunately for him, it was not burnt.

"Yes, now I'm definitely sure my friends will be pleased." Snotty grinned.

And so he put the cake in the package, and prepared to deliver it to his allies who were currently locked away in Brightvale Prison.

_Back to the others…_

"I wonder why he wanted to make that cake?" wondered Ursula.

"I know, I'm not sure why he would do something like that." replied Marvin.

"Do you think that there was anything weird about him?" Cherry asked.

The others shrugged.

Gary pulled out a newspaper, eager to catch on the news, when he found something interesting. Apparently, a pair of paintbrushes had been stolen from a paintbrush stall a few hours before their most recent fight with the Villains of Darkness. One of them was yellow while another one was green.

"How odd. I wonder whoever robbed that stall would want with those."

There were also reports of eerie darkness gathering all over Neopia, although some of it had disappeared from Kiko Lake.

"Kiko Lake?"

Gary put down the newspaper, deciding he had read enough of the newspaper for one day.

"Seems strange things have been happening around Neopia lately." he thought.

He decided to go back to his teammates, tipping over another stall in the process.

"HEY!" screamed the stall owner.

"Whoops! Sorry!" apologized Gary.

Once again his clumsiness had caused nothing but trouble. He felt somewhat upset.

On the bright side, he had been able to use his clumsiness to his advantage at one point, when he was fighting his Villains of Darkness counterpart.

He (along with all the other members of the Heroes of Light) wondered what they were currently doing in prison. Most likely they were trying to break out, or perhaps they were thinking of evil schemes they could commit in the future?

Hopefully they would stay in prison this time, instead of breaking out and going off to cause more mayhem (which would make it clear that was where they belonged).

But at least they would be able to take a deep breath for a time being, or would they?

At that moment, they were being spied upon by Shuriken, who was looking for an opportunity to attack the Neopets.

"It seems that one of their members has been falsely arrested, I suppose I'm going to have to do something about that so I can capture him and deliver him to my boss along with the rest of the Heroes of Light…." Shuriken hopped off to Brightvale Prison, ironically to rescue Bloony from jail.

Would he succeed in doing so and making his boss happy? Or would he receive a barbaric punishment just like Professor Nyctus did?

_It looks like the Heroes of Light are in big trouble….Snotty's got big plans for the remaining members of the Heroes of Light….and as we all know they cannot be good plans! Will the Heroes of Light discover Snotty's deception in time? Or will they be arrested just like Bloony was? And will he succeed in busting his comrades out of prison? You'll have to wait for the next episode!_


	26. Chapter 26: Confrontation and Showdown

Saving Neopia

**Chapter 26: Confrontation and Showdown**

Snotty laughed maniacally, looking at the four morphing potions he had obtained.

Unfortunately for him, he had not been able to steal them and instead had to purchase them, due to the fact that he did not want the others to become suspicious of his true identity.

"Ugh….not only do I currently look like Bloony…I'm starting to act like him too…." Snotty said with disgust. "But no matter, I have everything I need now, and soon everything will go to fruition."

Snotty first picked up the Red Chia Morphing Potion he had bought, and started chugging down. Soon enough he looked just like Cherry.

Snotty then went around doing many naughty things, ranging from vandalizing a stall (similar to what Gary had a tendency to do by accident) to assaulting a farmer.

Snotty laughed as he did so, happy to be committing crimes once more.

Snotty then repeated this process with the other morphing potions he obtained, committing more and more crimes to ensure that the remaining members of the Heroes of Light would be arrested as well.

"Looks like a job well done." Snotty said to himself.

Snotty then went back to where he had placed the morphing potion, and drank a Yellow Blumaroo Morphing Potion that caused him to turn back to normal.

"There, now nobody will realize that I did all those things." Snotty sighed with relief.

Pretty soon the police noticed the various crimes that were being committed by the Heroes of Light, and they proceeded to set up arrest warrants.

Cherry the Chia, Marvin the Mynci, Ursula the Usul, and Gary the Grarrl were now considered armed and dangerous, and had a bounty on their heads.

He had also already sent the cake that he had baked for his teammates, and pretty soon they would be free from prison.

Snotty was very happy, to say the very least.

Things did not look good for the Heroes of Light…..

But what had happened to the leader of the group, the one who Snotty had first gotten arrested in the first place?

_Meanwhile in Brightvale Prison…._

Bloony was upset. He was trapped in jail while his evil counterpart was busy coming up with more evil schemes as well as trying to hurt his friends, and of course he was unable to do anything about it no matter how much he wanted to.

"What am I going to do? He's going to hurt my friends…Gary...Ursula…Marvin…Cherry…" Bloony suddenly panicked upon saying her name, running around in circles. It had seemed he had snapped.

Fortunately, at that very moment his prayers were answered when suddenly Shuriken broke through the wall, ready to spring him from prison (albeit to take him to his boss).

"You're coming with me, yellow Blumaroo!" Shuriken ordered Bloony.

"Yes! Thank you so much! Now I can help my friends! See ya!" Bloony raced out of the prison.

Shuriken tried to chase after him, but for once he had not been sneaky and two guards tackled him as a result due to the fact he had assisted a (supposed) criminal.

"Get off!" Shuriken demanded. But more guards surrounded him from all sides, and he was forced to use a smoke bomb to retreat for the time being.

"Where'd he go?" wondered one of the guards.

Bloony raced back to his teammates, making sure to visit a paintbrush stall on the way out so that he wouldn't be painted green anymore.

But at that very moment the Villains of Darkness were escaping from jail as well.

"This cake tastes good…OW!" screamed Rocky, noticing there was metal in the cake.

"Yes! We're saved!" squealed Redtooth.

"Ugh! I hate in prison! I'm glad we're free!" Jennifer complained.

Using the metal, they were able to escape from prison as well, running to escape from the authorities and eager to return to the boss.

_At the Heroes of Light's current residence…._

"Gee, it seems that Bloony's been gone for a while….where could he be?" Cherry wondered.

"Maybe he went to get something to eat or something?" Marvin suggested.

"Nah, he'd probably tell us before doing something like that." Ursula disapproved.

"Just where did he hop off to?" Gary thought.

Suddenly they heard police sirens.

"What are the police doing now?" asked the confused Cherry.

"Freeze! We've got you surrounded!" the police ordered.

This immediately set the Heroes of Light off.

"What do we do?" Marvin the Mynci questioned his teammates.

"I dunno, run?" Ursula asked.

The four of them had no idea why they were being arrested, until Cherry noticed something particularly suspicious as she and her teammates looked for a way out.

"That's weird, what are these morphing potions doing h-wait a minute…." thought Cherry.

She suddenly remembered how suspicious Bloony had been acting, such as the evil laughter and when he went to make a cake. He then recalled the mysterious circumstances when they had found him after their battle with their Villains of Darkness, and everything started to make sense.

"Guys, I think I figured what's going on!" Cherry exclaimed.

Cherry explained that Snotty had somehow impersonated Bloony and had proceeded to impersonate the other Heroes of Light in order to get them arrested, and had also given the Villains of Darkness a cake with files baked into it in order to allow them to break out of prison.

"So that was his plan all along?" Marvin questioned her.

"Well I suppose that makes sense….but how are we going to explain that to the police?" Ursula questioned her teammates.

Suddenly, Bloony broke out into the room, followed by Snotty.

"I'm sorry I'm late, I was busy doing a few erra-what the heck is he doing here?" Snotty exclaimed.

"Give it up Snotty! You've lost!" Bloony ordered his evil counterpart.

"No! You're Snotty!" Snotty lied.

They got into an argument over which was which, and unfortunately for the Heroes of Light, they had no way of telling the two of them apart….

Until suddenly Cherry's Snorkle came by. Unfortunately for Snotty, his sadism got the better of him, and he started kicking the poor Snorkle.

"Hey! Leave him alone!" said Cherry, who tackled Snotty to the ground.

"I guess we know who's who now." Gary replied.

Suddenly, the Villains of Darkness crashed into the room, causing the police to wonder what was going on in confusion.

Redtooth tackled Cherry off the ground and into the floor, forcing her to let go of Snotty in the process.

"Ah, that's better….now yes where were we? Ah yes. Let's play another game shall we?"

Suddenly Snotty pulled out a strange pair of keys, and suddenly both the Heroes of Light and the Villains of Darkness found themselves on top of a game board.

Fortunately for the Heroes of Light, they got to go first.

"Alright!" squealed Cherry.

All of them managed to roll fairly decent rolls, allowing them to get a few keys.

"You may have gotten lucky so far, but we'll beat you!" Snotty taunted.

Snotty and his crew did not roll as high, but they did manage to get a few powerups they could use on the next turn.

The Heroes of Light rolled again, this time getting closer to the Keyquest Gate….

And that was when the Villains of Darkness decided to use their powerups. Bloony got one of his keys stolen by Snotty, Cherry received a misdirected compass causing her to move backwards, Marvin received a pile of dung that blocked his path, Ursula was crushed underneath a rock mote, and Gary had sand put into his pockets even though he did not wear clothes.

"Oh no…." said Bloony.

Snotty and the others laughed at their respective counterparts.

But despite this setback, the others were able to hold on, eventually nearing the Keyquest Gate. Unfortunately Snotty and the others were already there, and unfortunately Snotty had Boots of Flight.

"Now I shall beat you!" Snotty declared.

Snotty used the Boots of Flight….and got Hissi Eyes.

"NO!" screamed Snotty. The others managed to reach the Keyquest Gate, causing everything to turn back to normal…except for the fact that the Villains of Darkness were sprawled on the floor.

"No…my plans…they've been ruined!" Snotty cried out.

Bloony explained everything that had happened recently, and told the officers to arrest Snotty for kidnapping and impersonating the leader of the Heroes of Light.

"Don't forget trying to frame us for crimes we didn't commit!" reminded Cherry.

The other members of the Villains of Darkness were arrested as well, even though they had not helped Snotty with his latest scheme.

Overall, the Heroes of Light had saved the day once again.

But at that very moment, trouble was brewing in Meridell and Brightvale…the dark clouds that had already overwhelmed much of Neopia had started to spread over the two cities as well….

_It looks like trouble is looming in on the horizon….but on the bright side; the Villains of Darkness have been defeated! But of course they'll probably come back…but at least they won't cause mischief for a while…._


	27. Chapter 27: Evil Ninjas

Saving Neopia

**Chapter 26: Evil Ninjas**

Shuriken, following his recent escape from the police (that had unfortunately interfered with his capture of Bloony), was busy formulating his scheme of taking down the Heroes of Light.

Suddenly, he received a message from Lord Cataclysm.

"Yes, what is it?" Shuriken asked.

Shuriken suddenly received a nasty electric shock, that suffice to say was quite painful. "AARGH!" he screamed.

"You're overdue! What's taking you so long?" demanded Lord Cataclysm.

"Er, I'm sorry, I've been trying to take down the Heroes of Light, but I haven't been able to find an opportunity to do so. It seems that there are others that wish to do things to them as well…."

"Well, you better be quick…I'm planning on claiming more lands, and these Neopets are proving to be quite problematic….for some reason whenever I spray that nasty bioweapon of mine they are unaffected." Lord Cataclysm told his subordinate.

"That is peculiar." Shuriken agreed with him.

"Do I make myself clear?" Lord Cataclysm asked Shuriken.

"Yes." answered Shuriken.

And so Shuriken went off to take down the Heroes of Light, just as Prof. Nyctus (as well as his assistant) had unsuccessfully tried to do before (and had paid horribly for their failure).

But naturally, Shuriken wasn't the only one who was plotting to do evil things…

_Meanwhile in Lost Desert Prison…._

Due to the fact that they had previously escaped from Brightvale Prison via an escape tunnel (which was later cemented in order to prevent other prisoners from escaping), the police department of Brightvale had decided to put the Villains of Darkness in a prison where they would be placed under much closer watch.

The place they had decided was located in the hot climate of the Lost Desert, located underneath the Sakhmet Palace.

It was in that prison where the Villains of Darkness (including their latest member) were currently locked up, due to their various crimes they had been tried for. (They had in fact admitted to several of them, apparently not feeling remorse for doing things that they found fun.)

Due to the fact they had broken out of prison before, they were placed under especially high security.

But I suppose you'll want to hear about what the Villains of Darkness have been up to in prison shall we?

"AARGH!" screamed Snotty. He was very angry. The plans that he had come up with prison had been foiled by the Heroes of Light, and now he was in prison again along with his subordinates.

And to make matters worse, they were now trapped inside a prison that was even more difficult to escape from than Brightvale Prison, and that was saying something.

Apparently Princess Amira seriously did not want criminals inside her city. Even if they did escape, they would have to worry about various guards that were patrolling the city. They would not take kindly if they tried to steal something or beat up an innocent Desert Neopet. Committing their crimes would be much more difficult.

And they had no idea how they would actually leave the Lost Desert. It had a very meaningful name indeed, seeing though the majority of it consisted in sand and nothing else. Getting back to civilization once they entered the desert sands would not be an easy task.

Once again, the Villains of Darkness were in strife.

"It's a shame really; you did work hard on that plan. You even started developing additional plans to get the rest of the Heroes of Light in trouble once you kidnapped and impersonated them…." Redtooth noted.

"I'm sorry if Rocky didn't do job right." Rocky apologized sadly, recalling when Snotty told him to capture Bloony so that he could paint him green in order to get him arrested instead of himself.

"No no, it wasn't your fault. You were perfect. It's those pests, the Heroes of Light! If they thought they had it bad before, well just wait until when we get out of here!" Snotty yelled angrily.

"You mean if we get out of here." Jennifer commented.

"If. If is bad." Cinder added.

"Believe me, we will! The Heroes of Light will regret that they crossed paths with us, I'll say that much!" Snotty promised.

"I imagine they will, seeing though you're still determined to get revenge on them." Redtooth agreed.

"You sure being so obsessed with harming the Heroes of Light is healthy?" Jennifer asked.

"What? You think I'm going insane! I'm not insane! I'M NOT!" screamed Snotty.

"OK…." said Cinder slowly.

At that moment, all the other prisoners had started paying attention to the Villains of Darkness. The guards were paying attention as well, ready to take care of things if they got out of hand.

"Then again, I suppose you're right. Perhaps we should do something else for a change…you know, once we break out of here?" Snotty suggested.

"You mean if we-" Jennifer said, before Snotty interrupted her.

"I know what you mean!" Snotty screamed. Once again the other members of the Villains of Darkness were concerned about his mental health.

And so the Villains of Darkness started to consider doing something that did not involve the Heroes of Light.

Of course, seeing though the Villains of Darkness frequently did evil things (they are called that for a reason), they might end up crossing paths with the Heroes of Light again anyway….

Speaking of the Heroes of Light….

_At the Meridell Hotel…._

Bloony, Cherry, Marvin, Ursula, and Gary were all sound asleep….unaware of what was currently happening.

Speaking of the hotel, the hotel itself was one very similar to the one in Neopia Central…also, Cherry had to leave her Snorkle at the Petpet Pound, but I suppose we shouldn't get too much detail into those things…..you want to hear about what trouble the Heroes of Light have gotten into this time, will you?

Shuriken, being a stealthy as he could, had already entered the hotel, knocking out anyone that tried to stop him from breaking and entering, and of course he had bad intentions.

Reaching into his knapsack (that he kept with him whenever he needed to withdraw any ninja gear), he pulled out strange pieces of paper, and placed them across the hotel where the Heroes of Light were currently staying…

But he wasn't entirely unnoticed.

Bloony slowly woke up, looking to get a glass of water.

Soon enough, he noticed the strange pieces of paper that were all over the room, and that was when he could tell that something was wrong.

"This can't be good."

Bloony quickly went to wake up the others, who were currently dozing off at the time.

"You guys have to wake up! We're in danger!"

"What?" asked Cherry.

"We're in danger?" questioned Ursula.

"You ate my chicken?" interrogated Gary.

The others looked at him.

"I could have sworn I had another chicken on my plate when we went to eat lunch." Gary answered.

The others searched around the hotel, finding many of the mysterious papers, and were unsure what exactly the mysterious papers around the hotel had been placed around for. The only thing that was particularly unusual about them was their coloring and the text.

Suddenly, the text on the papers changed from black to red, and that was when the Heroes of Light knew they were in trouble.

"HIT THE DECK!" screamed Bloony.

The Heroes of Light ran out of the building, just as the papers suddenly went off and caused a bunch of explosions.

Thankfully, the paper bombs weren't designed to cause the hotel to crumble into pieces (since Shuriken needed the Heroes of Light alive), although they did cause a lot of damage.

"Wow." exclaimed Cherry.

Suddenly, Shuriken popped out of the shadows.

"Darn it! Why didn't that work? That should have allowed me to effectively capture you while you were fully unconscious from the explosions…." Shuriken complained. "I suppose I'll have to dirty my hands a little with you. Who should I knock out first, I wonder?"

Shuriken reached into his knapsack once again, and pulled out several kunai. "I know, I think I'll start with the timid-looking Grarrl…" he said, throwing one of his knives at Gary.

Gary whimpered, but as he did so he knocked it back at Shuriken with his tail.

"OW!" screamed Shuriken, pulling it out of his head, albeit with a grimace. "Hmm, it seems you're better defended than I thought…I guess I'll have to try something different…" He pulled out a sturdy blow gun and started shooting darts at the party. Of course, the darts were filled with a chemical that would put whoever was hit by them to sleep.

Thankfully, none of them were hurt, and Marvin pulled out a banana peel and made Shuriken slip over it.

"AAH!" screamed Shuriken, falling flat on his face. "That wasn't funny, you little Mynci! You should be grateful that Lord Cataclysm told me to bring you to me alive!"

"Lord Cataclysm?" the others wondered.

Shuriken pulled out a bamboo staff, looking to swing it at the party…

Only to find that it was almost completely eaten.

"What the-" Shuriken said, stunned in disbelief.

"What? If a Pandaphant can eat them, why can't I?" Cherry stated. "I was hungry!"

This made Shuriken even angrier than before. "Aargh, I swear this isn't over! I've still got plenty more tricks up my sleeve." he told the Heroes of Light.

"Not anymore." said Ursula, who picked up the knapsack and threw it up a tree.

"DARN IT!" screamed Shuriken, who started trying to climb up it, hoping to get it back, when suddenly he felt someone tugging at his tail.

"Sorry buddy, not going to happen." said Bloony, who swung him a few feet into a window above the entrance to the Meridell Hotel.

CRASH!

"You win this round, but I'll be back!" promised Shuriken, who darted off at lightning speed.

"Gosh, the Cult of Apocalypse sure has a bunch of crazy members." Marvin noted.

"Who are the Cult of Apocalypse?" asked Gary.

"Once again, we're not liked by everyone, although one could say that a lot of people do like us. They're a lot more mysterious than the Villains of Darkness, mind you. And they're also a lot bigger threat to Neopia…" Bloony told him.

"Yikes." exclaimed Gary.

"Thankfully, we've managed to defeat everything they've managed to throw at us so far…but I don't think it's safe for us to stay here anymore….whenever a member of the Cult of Apocalypse shows up, bad things tend to follow…." Marvin told the others.

"But where can we stay? So far they've managed to find us no matter where we go…" Ursula said, somewhat frustrated.

"I think I may have a suggestion, but I'm not sure if you guys will like it…." Cherry said, whispering into Bloony's ear.

"WHAT?" screamed Bloony.

_And there's another cliff-hanger! Just where Cherry could be suggesting? And what could the Villains of Darkness be up to?_


	28. Chapter 28: Return to Roo Island

Saving Neopia

**Chapter 28: Return to Roo Island**

_At the Apocalypse Castle…._

When Shuriken got back to Lord Cataclysm, he was in for a night of…well it certainly wasn't a night at the Neopian Hotel….

"So, I see you failed just as horribly as the doctor, didn't you? We'll have to do something about that…"

Suddenly, Lord Cataclysm transformed into a Draik and set Shuriken on fire, causing him to run around in circles screaming. He eventually remembered that he was supposed to stop drop and roll, so he did so, but Lord Cataclysm was not finished with him yet.

Lord Cataclysm then transformed into a Bruce, who froze Shuriken in a block of ice. Lord Cataclysm then transformed into a hammer and smashed it with him still inside, which was quite painful for the Meerca ninja.

Still this did not completely satisfy the dark lord, and he transformed into a Poogle and bit Shuriken hard in the tail, causing him to stifle back a tear.

Finally, Lord Cataclysm transformed into a Mutant Grundo. Picking Shuriken up from the tail, he swung him around and around repeatedly, which suffice to say made the Meerca feel queasy….

He finally let go…and threw him straight out of Apocalypse Castle.

Shuriken fell several feet, eventually landing on a boulder. He had stars around his head, and was seriously hurt, in case what Lord Cataclysm did to him did not make obvious.

"Why…." he said, finally passing out on the floor.

Lord Cataclysm then sent Fallenova to retrieve him, which he did albeit with a sigh. As he did so, a pair of wings came out of his cloak as he went to pick the Meerca up. He was sent to Professor Nyctus's Laboratory in order to see if he could do anything to him to make him recover.

Unfortunately Professor Nyctus, despite being known by many as a mad doctor, had not actually gone to medical school, and gave him various potions that turned him into various Petpets…

He did finally manage to perfect a formula and get Shuriken healed, but by then he felt like crying like a baby.

"Why did I have to serve such an evil Neopet?" Shuriken said out loud. But Shuriken was not sure if Lord Cataclysm really was a Neopet. Whenever he saw underneath his cloak, he saw an evil ninja master. But he was prone to shapeshifting into different forms, so whatever he truly was beyond his guess.

"I know how you feel, ninja. He destroyed my laboratory not too long ago simply because I couldn't defeat those Neopets myself." Prof. Nyctus offered his sympathies.

"I don't know what I was thinking when I decided to join the Cult of Apocalypse…" Shuriken thought.

"I wonder what he's up to now?" wondered Steven.

At that very moment, Lord Cataclysm was plotting who to send next to capture the Heroes of Light once and for all to succeed in his evil plans.

"Those pests have been eluding my grasp long enough!" he shouted. "I'm not going to play with them anymore! It's time for me to send out one of my nastiest soldiers…Dark Knight, come forth!"

At that very moment a black figure wearing black armor came into the room. He was wielding a hammer made out of maractite, which had been strangely altered by Lord Cataclysm himself.

"Yes, what is it my master? You called me to defeat one of your enemies? I'll smash them...cut them…" His weapon suddenly changed into a sword as he said so.

"Burn them….freeze them…"

His weapon suddenly changed into a Fire and Ice Sword.

"Chop them…."

His weapon suddenly changed into an axe.

"Anything you wish." The Dark Knight told Lord Cataclysm.

"Yes, I can see that you're more than willing to assist me…however for the moment I need the Neopets I'm having you target alive…so do not get careless with your weapon."

The Dark Knight nodded, and he proceeded to leave the castle in order to hunt the Heroes of Light down.

Lord Cataclysm grinned with satisfaction.

_Meanwhile in Roo Island…._

"You sure this was such a good idea, Cherry?" asked Bloony.

"Of course I'm sure!" replied Cherry. "This is the last place the Cult of Apocalypse will look for us!"

"Be that as it may, it is very dangerous here at the moment. Do you see how many possessed Blumaroos are here?" Bloony questioned Cherry.

"I'm not sure if I have enough ammo to take them all down." worried Marvin.

"I suppose we'll have to work together if we wish to save Roo Island from this dark evil that's plaguing it along with the rest of Neopia…" thought Ursula.

"I'm scared…." Said Gary.

The team engaged the Blumaroos in combat, and despite being outnumbered (well, not hopelessly outnumbered) they managed to pull through.

They decided whatever's causing all the Blumaroos to turn violent is probably located in King Roo's former castle, which was made apparent by the fact there were several Blumaroos guarding it, along with several members of the Cult of Apocalypse.

Thankfully, our heroes were able to overcome them, but at this point they were tuckered out.

"There's so many of them…" Bloony thought.

Finally, our heroes opened the gates to the castle, and wondered where King Roo was.

"That's weird, there's nobody in here…" wondered Cherry.

Suddenly several Cult of Apocalypse members appeared in the castle.

"Spoke too soon." responded Cherry.

"I bet if we capture these Neopets they'll give us a raise!" a Cult of Apocalypse member squealed with glee.

And so they attempted to beat up the Heroes of Light so that they could capture them.

But of course, they ended up failing, and the Heroes of Light continued to the throne room.

Much to their surprise, they saw King Roo, who was being interrogated by a Cult of Apocalypse captain.

"Tell me what you know about the Heroes of Light!" he demanded.

"Never!" he shouted.

"You're really making the job difficult…but I suppose it's more fun that way!" The captain exclaimed. Pulling out a feather, he started tickling King Roo.

"Stop! That tickles!" he said, laughing as he did so.

Bloony quickly got angry as he did this, and soon enough he tackled the Cult of Apocalypse Captain to the ground.

"I got a better idea! Why don't you tell us what you know about the Cult of Apocalypse!" he demanded.

"Fine fine, although I don't really know that much about the cult myself….Lord Cataclysm doesn't tell us much about the cult himself….not even to relatively high-ranking members such as me….I do know one thing about him though. Apparently he's some shapeshifting being…I've seen him transform into many different things…."

"He can shapeshift?" Cherry thought.

"Yes….it seems he can transform into anything he pleases…." The captain told them.

Satisfied with what they had learned, they decided to lock him up in the castle dungeon, which ironically the Cult of Apocalypse had created themselves to hold the Blumaroos that had not become possessed yet.

After unfastening King Roo from his chains, he thanked them all for saving Roo Island. "Gosh, I knew you were frightened when the Cult of Apocalypse came to attack the island, but I didn't think you two would find friends and do something about it. I guess you're doing a pretty good job so far, since all the Blumaroos on the island aren't possessed anymore…"

Sure enough the Blumaroos were freeing the unpossessed Blumaroos that had been locked up, as well as repairing the damage that had been done to the island during the attack.

"Looks like we've done well team!" Bloony told his teammates.

Bloony asked King Roo if they could use an island as a hiding point, and he replied yes.

Once again the Heroes of Light had saved the day….but at that very moment they were being hunted down once again….this time by arguably their nastiest foe yet.

Would they prevail once again? Or would they meet their highly unfortunate end?

Until next time…


	29. Chapter 29: Officially Heroes

Saving Neopia

**Chapter 29: Officially Heroes**

Our heroes started to tend to their injuries following their recent fight, and finally finished just as the sun came back up. They had done well in order to save the island, which involved taking down lots of possessed Blumaroos, as well as several members of the Cult of Apocalypse as well.

"Phew, that was a rough fight, wasn't it?" Bloony told his teammates.

"Yes, freeing Roo Island wasn't easy, but I'm glad we managed to save your hometown." Cherry told the yellow Blumaroo.

"Hopefully we won't have to worry about any more of this evil possession thing for a while." Marvin thought out loud.

"If we do have to face another foe, we'll be ready for them, right guys?" Ursula asked.

The other members of the Heroes of Light nodded.

Suddenly a royal Blumaroo came by. Apparently King Roo wanted to see them.

"It's not very surprising, considering we just saved him and his kingdom from the forces of darkness." Bloony thought.

And so the royal Blumaroo took them to Roo Castle.

As he got there, Bloony thought about how it had all began. It didn't seem like long ago that he was just a simple Blumaroo (albeit a somewhat distinguished one, given that he wasn't nearly as happy-go-lucky as all the other Blumaroos that lived on Roo Island) relaxing in peace, until the fateful day when he saved Cherry from a psychopath Blumaroo (that unfortunately for him, looked like him to the point where he was able to impersonate him using a paintbrush) and was ultimately forced to evacuate to her to Neopia Central. Speaking of the psychopath, Bloony also wondered if he and his henchmen were still locked up. He hadn't heard from them for a while.

Bloony supposed that a lot had happened since then however, noting how he had met several other Neopets that were strangely resistant to what the Cult of Apocalypse were doing to Neopia and with their assistance was able to fight back from them. Bloony wondered curiously why he and his teammates weren't affected whenever the Cult of Apocalpyse attacked an otherwise peaceful settlement.

All these thoughts and more circled his head as he went towards Roo Castle.

"Wow." exclaimed Cherry.

Many Blumaroos were at the castle, and they were all grateful for what the Heroes of Light had done. Thanks to them, they were no longer possessed by the Cult of Apocalypse and were now completely back to normal. Bloony had to cover his ears from all the noise they made.

Apparently Gary couldn't stand being around so many Neopets at once, as he started cowering in a corner while the Blumaroos asked him for his autograph among other things.

Eventually though, King Roo calmed the Blumaroos down, and told them that he wished to speak with the Heroes of Light personally. The Blumaroos obliged, and backed away so that King Roo could approach them.

King Roo cleared his throat, and said several words to the Heroes of Light.

"Heroes of Light, I am eternally grateful to you for what you have done. Thanks to you, we are now free from the influence of whatever fate has fallen upon us. No longer are my people suffering from this dark plague. In case it was not obvious earlier, the Blumaroos that live with me are and always will thank you for what you have done."

King Roo suddenly pulled out some balloons and said. "Now as I have done many times, I shall be hosting a party. However, this time around, this party shall be dedicated to the Heroes of Light, due to everything that they have done recently. So without further ado, let the celebrations begin!"

And so once again King Roo hosted a massive party, complete with fireworks, partyblowers, and lots of food. Our heroes all started to enjoy themselves very quickly, well, except for Gary, who still had problems being around lots of other Neopets. Thankfully, the other members of Heroes of Light eventually managed to convince him to overcome this and managed to convince him to participate in the party and play in several games such as Pin-the-tail-on-the-Kougra, and he started having fun as well.

All in all, they had a great time at the party. But then again, when wouldn't they?

"Wow, that was a great party." Marvin complimented.

"Yeah, my head hurts though…" Cherry said, clutching her upper body.

"I thought you didn't have a neck." Ursula replied.

"Oh, that's right. I guess my upper body hurts, then." Cherry corrected herself.

One could say that it was one of the best days of their life…

But at that very moment, they were being hunted down by an opponent that would prove to be one of their most challenging opponents yet….

_Meanwhile in the Lost Desert Prison…_

"So, you're the newest guard to be hired into this position, are you not?" a Desert Ruki guard asked his fellow guard.

"Yes." replied the Desert Jubjub.

"Well then, I'll show you around." the Ruki said, showing him around the Lost Desert Prison, which was big enough to hold far more prisoners than were currently imprisoned, ironically enough.

The Ruki showed them around the cafeteria (where prisoners got to eat), the washroom (for cleaning prisoner's uniforms), and the holding cells (where the Villains of Darkness were still busy plotting their revenge), among other things.

Finally, the Ruki showed him to a red button which read "Do Not Press.", and of course firmly told him not to touch it, before leaving him to his own devices.

"Wow." said the Jubjub, who looked at it curiously. Unfortunately, curiousity ultimately got the best of him….and he ultimately pressed the button.

Suddenly out of nowhere an alarm went off and all the prisoners in the Lost Desert were released, which unfortunately included the very dangerous Villains of Darkness, who had escaped from prison once again (albeit this time due to the carelessness of one Jubjub guard).

The Desert Ruki came back into the room a few seconds later. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?" he screamed.

"Um…" the Jubjub replied Babaaishly. It was all he could say.

Lost Desert was in for one heck of a crime wave.


	30. Chapter 30: To The Lost Desert

Saving Neopia

**Chapter 30: To the Lost Desert**

Following their recent actions in the Roo Island (and the subsequent party), it didn't take long to realize that something had happened to the Lost Desert as well after reading the latest copy of the Neopian Times.

Bloony, heading back home after the party, decided to check out his daily paper, and was once again shocked at what he had seen.

"Massive jail breakout? All the prisoners are free?" Bloony said out loud with disbelief. Well, not too much disbelief, on account on this type of thing having happened before.

Apparently, one overly curious Jubjub security guard (now fired) had pressed a button that had released all the prisoners from the Lost Desert prison and they were now wreaking all kinds of havoc all across both Sahkmet and Qasala.

This unfortunately included the Villains of Darkness, who had been imprisoned there ever since the Heroes of Light had defeated them. This frustrated Bloony, who had thought that he had finally put an end to their endless crime sprees. Unfortunately he and the rest of the Heroes of Light had no such luck.

If things kept up, both Sahkmet and Qasala would end up becoming ghost towns.

Bloony notified his teammates almost immediately, and the others realized what they had to do. They had to put an end to all this nonsense that was occurring in town.

"Alright, team, it looks like we're going on another mission. You guys ready?" Bloony asked his teammates.

"It's a shame that we're already being called back into action after everything that we've done for Roo Island." Cherry discussed with her teammates. Her Snorkle squealed along with her, albeit possibly out of fear.

"I suppose that's the way it is, Cherry." Marvin replied.

"It's time for another adventure!" Ursula clenched her fists together.

"This sure sounds dangerous." Gary whimpered.

Bloony asked King Roo if there was anything that they could use to get to Lost Desert, but King Roo responded by saying that it was too dangerous.

"You can't go there in a time like this! You'll get robbed, beaten, or might even get killed!" King Roo warned the Heroes of Light.

"Be that is it may, I'm pretty sure that someone needs to do something about all of this. If we don't put a stop to this, then who will?" asked Bloony.

"I suppose you have a point. Very well, but be very careful out there." King Roo once again warned the Heroes of Light.

And so our heroes went inside a hot air balloon (with a balloon that resembled King Roo's head) and started to head off to the Lost Desert to put an end to this massive crime spree.

"Wow! Look how high above we are!" Cherry squealed.

"I think I can see Faerieland from here!" Marvin shouted.

"I just hope we don't end up falling out of this balloon…" Ursula worried.

"AAH! It's the disembodied head of King Roo!" screamed Gary, who had noticed what the balloon looked like.

"Don't make mountains out of Symol hills." Bloony stated.

Pretty soon they were right above their sandy destination…

And already they could see the massive riot that was occurring all across the desert. Stalls were overturned, fires were lit, graffiti was written, and in general it was in chaos.

Lost Desert was in desperate need of a hero (or in this case a bunch of heroes), and thankfully their cry would not be unanswered.

The hot air balloon eventually landed in the desert sands, thankfully a distance away from town.

"So, where should we go first, Sahkmet or Qasala?" Bloony asked his teammates.

_Meanwhile in Sahkmet…._

"HELP!" screamed a Lost Desert citizen. Thieves were looting her house, searching every nook and cranny.

The Defenders of Neopia had already been called to save the day, but unfortunately it would be a while before they would arrive, as they were busy stopping a crazy lumberjack Techo from trying to cut down the Money Tree.

"HAHAHAHA! I love total lawlessness!" laughed Snotty, clutching his hands together.

"Yes, things have gotten crazy after we broke out of jail, hasn't it?" Redtooth agreed, glad to have escaped from prison thanks to a prison guard's carelessness.

"Rocky can't wait to participate in this violence!" Rocky exclaimed, holding his club up in the air.

"I wonder if there's anything I can steal." Jennifer wondered, having already taken out a loot bag.

"I just hope that there are some weak Neopets for me to squash." Cinder thought, preparing to charge as he did so.

Once again the Villains of Darkness caused trouble for innocent Neopets, stealing anything that they could get their hands on and attacking any Neopet that got too close for them.

And among all this, other criminals were committing crimes across Sahkmet.

Many of them had gone off to commit crimes in Qasala as well, much to the misfortune of the Neopets that were living there.

Among the endless mayhem, Princess Amira and General Dacon were watching the city, concerned about its wellbeing. Things had obviously taken a turn for the worse since all of the prisoners had escaped.

"I've already dispatched my guards to take care of things, but so far things aren't looking so good." General Dacon told her highness.

"Today is a dark day for the Lost Desert." Princess Amira sighed.

_Meanwhile back at Roo Island…_

"WHERE ARE THE HEROES OF LIGHT?" the Dark Knight demanded from a Blumaroo.

"I saw them head to the Lost Desert in a hot air balloon! I don't know anything else, I swear!" the Blumaroo screamed nervously.

The Black Knight put the Blumaroo down, and snarled with rage. They were already long gone.

"No matter." he said. "I shall catch up with them soon enough, and when they do, they shall wish that they never wished with the Cult of Apocalypse." Under his helmet, he grinned with satisfaction.

_Hopefully our heroes will be able to straighten this mess out and turn the Lost Desert back to its original state….but until then we're just going to have to wait and see._


	31. Chapter 31: Sheldon the Skeith

Saving Neopia

**Chapter 31: Sheldon the Skeith**

Sheldon the orange Skeith was running away from the thieves that were plundering Sakhmet, wanting to get as far away from them as possible.

Unlike other members of his species, he enjoyed taking part in physical exercise…which was proving to be quite helpful as he ran away from the criminals that were trying to mug him.

"Come back here!" shouted one of the thieves.

Sheldon wondered what had happened that had caused so many criminals to start causing chaos among the Lost Desert, but he didn't exactly have a lot of time to think about that as he kept running away from the bandits.

He left the Lost Desert, trying to escape from the mayhem…

…when suddenly he crashed into Bloony.

"OUCH!" screamed Bloony, falling on the sand. Sheldon was on the ground as well, and they helped each other to their feet.

Sheldon looked around him, and saw that there were several other Neopets with him as well. They had apparently arrived using a hot air balloon, which judging from its appearance had come from Roo Island.

"Sorry about that, but listen to what I have to say! Turn back! There are a bunch of thieves who are looting Sahkmet…and I heard that there is similar chaos going on in Qasala as well! Leave the Lost Desert while you still can!" warned Sheldon.

"Funny you should mention that, we're trying to put a stop to all this nonsense." Bloony told him.

Sheldon looked at him for a while in silence. "You are?" he asked.

"Yeah, we figured that perhaps we could help out in putting an end to the crime spree that was happening. I believe the Defenders of Neopia had been called up this time around, but I also heard that they were currently investigating the substance that was causing the citizens of Neopia to go crazy, so I don't think they'll be able to help out at the moment." Bloony gave him information.

"I see. Is there anything I could to help?" Sheldon asked them.

"Well, I suppose you could help us take down the criminals and get them back behind bars where they belong." Bloony pointed out.

"I don't know, it sounds awfully dangerous." worried Sheldon.

"Well just to let you know, we'll try to make sure nothing happens to you." Bloony assured him.

"Alright, I suppose I'll help out, if it's that important to you."

The other members of the Heroes of Light jumped up into the air with delight.

"Looks like we have another member to the team." Marvin the Mynci thought.

"Yes! More help for us!" squealed Cherry, happy to have someone else to assist her (and all the other members of the Heroes of Light) for that matter.

"I just hope that he won't run away like he did earlier." Ursula thought, recalling how fast he had ran in order to get away from the Neopets that were attacking him.

"Those thieves make me so frightened!" worried Gary. Would they be able to make it out of this new task of theirs in one piece?

And so the sixth member of the Heroes of Light joined the crew….

But at the very moment, the Villains of Darkness were hiring new members as well…

_At the Lost Desert Palace…_

Snotty laughed evilly with delight. While the other criminals were busy plundering the city (and all the palace guards were busy trying to stop them, albeit without much success) there was absolutely nobody to stop them all from completely and utterly robbing all the treasure inside the palace.

His teammates were quite happy as well, particularly the greedy Jennifer, who had brought along quite a large loot bag. "I'm going to be a Neomillionaire when I'm finished with this!" squealed Jennifer with glee.

"It's too bad that all the guards are gone, I was hoping to beat someone up." Cinder complained.

"Rocky wanted to smash some guards too." Rocky agreed with unsatisfaction. Things were simply too easy.

But there was something that Snotty noticed that caught his attention aside from the massive amount of Neopoints. A sleeping Mutant Moehog was napping, completely unaware of the evildoers that were in the room trying to clear out the Lost Desert Treasury (which would take some time, considering the large amount of Neopoints in the vault). What exactly he was doing there was unknown, although apparently he had been in there for quite some time, resting in Dreamland…where he wouldn't be for long.

"You there!" shouted Snotty. "What are you doing here?"

The Moehog woke up and jumped in the air, quite startled. "Wha-who are you?" he asked.

"You didn't answer my question!" bellowed Snotty.

"Well, my name is Larry, and I thought that taking a snooze here would be nice. Now will you let me get back to my nap?" he asked.

"Only if you help us loot this vault out of its contents, if you get what I'm saying." Redtooth demanded from the mutant Moehog .

"Fine, I'll help you as much as you want! Just let me go to bed!" he yelled crankily. "Although I have to admit, the idea of having this many Neopoints sounds promising, not unlike what I tend to dream about when I go to bed."

"Are you sure this was a good idea?" asked Redtooth.

"Hey, I'll get whatever Neopet I can find if they can help me out somehow. Don't look a gift Uni in the mouth." Snotty replied.

And so the lazy (and somewhat malevolent) Moehog that went by the name of Larry decided to assist the Villains of Darkness in their evil schemes.

Lost Desert was in even more peril than it was before, now that the Villains of Darkness had an extra card in their deck.

Would the Heroes of Light be able to stop them as they did before? Or would the winds of change blow in their direction?

_In this next chapter, two new characters have been introduced (not unlike before). What will this mean for the Heroes of Light and the Villains of Darkness? You'll have to wait and see._


	32. Chapter 32: The Many Thieves

Saving Neopia

**Chapter 32: The Many Thieves**

Eventually our heroes entered Sakhmet after travelling a few miles or so. Due to the hot temperatures of the desert, they made sure to bring some water with them. They also gave one to Sheldon, since he did not have any on him at the time.

Pretty soon they entered the city. Suffice to say, it looked even worse than when they saw it from a distance. There were thieves everywhere, trying to take as many Neopoints as they can.

Our heroes started taking them down, and suffice to say things started to get better for Sakhmet as the Heroes of Light went to work erasing the massive crime wave from the Lost Desert before it got even more out of hand than before.

And all the while the Villains of Darkness were coming up with a scheme to take care of the Heroes of Light as well as they started plundering the castle.

Meanwhile, Gary had ran away from all the fighting unable to tolerate all the violence and misdemeanors that were being committed across the city. He eventually stumbled upon a strange-looking canister that had apparently been abandoned by one of the citizens as he sought to escape from the city.

"What's in here?" he thought. He heard a strange hissing noise coming from the canister, but he didn't think much of it until-

"AAH!" screamed Gary. Inside the canister was a Cobrall! (This one wasn't venomous, but Gary was oblivious to this).

"Get away from me!" screamed Gary. Unfortunately for the purple Grarrl, this Cobrall was interested in him, and started to follow him around, which unfortunately caused Gary to panic. He eventually passed out when the Cobrall went across his arm.

Just like Cherry, Gary had found himself a Petpet, but this one was the last Petpet he wanted to have.

Our heroes, unaware of what had happened to their companion, had continued fighting the thieves, but more of them just came on coming.

"What do we do, Bloony? There's too many of them!" asked Cherry.

"I suppose we'll need to change tactics." Bloony told her.

And so our heroes did so, trying to fight the thieves from a distance rather than actually outright engaging them in battle.

It was hard work, but our heroes managed to take down many of the thieves, and things were now a lot better for Sahkmet than they were before.

"Looks like we've succeed for now." grinned Marvin, satisfied with the Heroes of Lights' work.

"There might be more of them in Qasala." pointed out Ursula.

"By the way guys, wasn't there a Grarrl with you?" asked the newest member of the Heroes of Light.

Suddenly our heroes noticed that Gary was missing. Where could he have gone?

"It looks like we're going to need to find him." Groaned Bloony, and our heroes started hunting him down.

Soon enough they found him where had been prior to his encounter to the Cobrall, who was still looking at him curiously.

Our heroes picked up Gary the Grarrl and decided to place him in a bed for him to recover. They put the Cobrall back away in its basket so that it wouldn't bother him anymore.

Our heroes went to Qasala, and started to take down the thieves as well. There was a variety of them, several of which wielded daggers, others that wielded blackjacks, suffice to say our heroes were in strife.

But nonetheless they managed to pull through and take care of the bandits that were in Qasala as well, but they realized that they had one last task they needed to complete before everything in the Lost Desert would be resolved.

"We have to save Sahkmet Palace! It must be in enormous trouble!" realized Bloony.

"What about the Qasala Palace?" Cherry thought.

"I suppose we'll have to worry about that later…I believe that there's someone robbing the treasury!" Marvin the Mynci warned his teammates.

"What makes you say that?" Ursula asked him curiously.

According to Marvin the Mynci, he had used a few robots to monitor the Sakhmet Palace (once again, our heroes were very surprised about his actions), and noticed that a few shady figures had gone inside the vault.

"That does sound like a big issue." Sheldon worried.

"I suppose we should go to Sahkmet Palace first then." Bloony suggested.

Meanwhile in Qasala Palace...

Prince Jazan was very unhappy about the outbreak that had occurred in Sakhmet. "Why can't Princess Amira take better care of her prisoners?" he said, frustrated.

He had managed to scare away many of the scoundrels using magic by creating various illusions of fearsome Neopets, but more of them just came on coming. The amount of criminals was seemingly endless.

"It's OK, dear, I'm sure that things will get better soon." assured his wife, Nabile.

"I sure hope you're right, honey, I'm getting really tired of this." Prince Jazan replied.

"I just wonder how Tomos is doing." Wondered Nabile, curious to what her former partner-in-crime was currently occupied with.

_Meanwhile at Coltzan' Shrine…._

"So, this is the shrine dedicated to Coltzan, huh?" he thought. "I suppose that he wouldn't mind if I took a thing or two from it."

Tomos pulled out a shovel, and started digging, when he suddenly heard an ominous voice.

"Stay away…." Warned the voice. "Stay away…."

Tomos ignored the scary voice, and kept right on digging…of course, eventually the spirit of Coltzan got angry and appeared out of nowhere, giving him quite a fright.

"AARGH!" he screamed. "Alright, I'll stop sheesh!"

Coltzan's spirit nodded with satisfaction, and disappeared.

"Why would someone kill him anyway?" thought Tomos. "People say that he was a good king that never violated any Neopet's civil rights…."

Tomos then left the shrine, deciding to look elsewhere for treasure. Much to his surprise, he found that several other thieves were currently in the area. Tomos was surprised that there were so many of them around.

"What's going on here?" Tomos thought.

Suddenly, a few thieves took notice of him, and an idea came into their heads.

They shoved Tomos in a bag, and they proceeded to take him into a secret villain hideout located inside a hidden cave.

_It looks like the Heroes of Light will be encountering the Villains of Darkness once again (it's been a while since they've last appeared, now haven't they?) And what could those thieves possibly be planning? That will be revealed in the next chapter….but for now just stay tuned for more action!_

_Oh, and don't forget to write a review if you're enjoying the story so far. I may have gone over this a few times, but I still would appreciate it nonetheless._


	33. Chapter 33: Evil Schemes

Saving Neopia

**Chapter 33: Evil Schemes**

The Heroes of Light went inside Sakhmet Palace, hoping to stop the Villains of Darkness from succeeding in their latest and their largest heist yet….

But unfortunately, the Villains of Darkness quickly became aware that the Heroes of Light were after them.

"Um, Snotty…" Redtooth warned his comrade.

"What? Can't you see that we're busy plundering this treasury? Speaking of which, why aren't you helping us with this anymore? You were doing so a second ago…" Snotty asked him curiously. 

"I picked up a familiar scent….I get a bad feeling that the Heroes of Light might be going after us again." worried Redtooth.

"AARGH!" screamed Snotty. "Why is it that no matter where we go, they always try to ruin our plans? No matter, I'll take care of this shortly. You're in charge while I'm gone, Redtooth." Snotty whistled for Jennifer (who reluctantly decided to stop putting Neopoints into her loot bag for the time being), and they proceeded to leave the vault.

"Rocky wonder what Snotty's up to now." thought Rocky.

Redtooth decided to order his remaining teammates to search the palace for the Heroes of Light and take down as many of them as they could. "Let's roll, team!" he ordered.

_Outside the palace…_

"Alright, team, let's split up and see if we can find the Villains of Darkness, shall we? I'm not exactly sure where they are, all I know is that they're around the palace somewhere." Bloony ordered his teammates.

"Alright." said the others.

"By the way, have you seen Gary? I've just realized that he's no longer with us…and I don't mean that he's dead, I just mean that he's missing." Bloony asked his teammates.

The other teammates looked at each other in confusion. Just where was Gary?

"Seeing though you're the fastest member of our team, Sheldon, I'll send you to search for him. As for the rest, continue searching the palace…" he told them. "The palace is very big, so try not to get lost, will you?"

And so the Heroes of Light began searching the palace for the Villains of Darkness.

_At the Sakhmet War Room…_

"Perhaps the Villains of Darkness are hiding here…" Bloony thought. He decided to search the war room for anything suspicious. He found it interesting what the contents in the war room were, such as the armor and weapons, as well as the maps of various areas around Neopia, but he had no time to actually look at them.

Bloony searched the palace for any sign of the Villains of Darkness…

For a moment, it seemed like there was nobody there.

"That's odd, I could have sworn there might be a member of the Villains of Darkness hiding somewhere…"

Suddenly, several knives were sent flying at Bloony's direction.

"What the-" Bloony suddenly found himself pinned to a wall by several knives, one for each hand and foot.

"So, after all this time, we finally meet again." Snotty said to his nemesis. Bloony looked at him and saw that he was with Jennifer, who was smiling as evilly as Snotty was.

"I'm getting really tired of you always trying to commit acts of needless violence and greed, Snotty." Bloony told Snotty, frustrated.

"What can I say? It's my nature. You know, during my time in prison, I came up with many things to do to you and your teammates…and now I'm finally able to actually execute them…"

Bloony gulped.

"Let's start with the first one, shall we?" Jennifer pulled out a feather, and Snotty started tickling Bloony with it.

"No! Stop! That tickles!" Bloony could not stop himself from laughing as Snotty repeatedly tickled his feet with the feather that he had somehow obtained recently.

"Yes, it is pretty amusing isn't it? At least for me it is…now what else what is it I wanted to do?" he thought. "Ah yes!" Snotty pulled out a nail and started scraping against it a wall. Bloony grimaced as his ears were injured from the painful sound.

"In retrospect, we probably should have brought earmuffs, but that's water under the bridge! Do you have any suggestions, Jennifer?" he asked his feminine accomplice.

"I've got one." Jennifer pulled out some lipstick and covered Bloony's lips with it. She also sprayed makeup in Bloony's face. Bloony immediately felt humiliated. Snotty and Jennifer then proceeded to laugh out loud.

After they had stopped laughing, Snotty then proceeded to talk to him some more. "Oh, how it feels so good to ruin your day!" Jennifer agreed with him. "By the way, I wonder how your teammates are doing? They're probably fighting the Villains of Darkness as we speak…its too bad that their leader isn't around to help them isn't it? It doesn't bode too well, for them does it?" Snotty taunted.

Upon the mention of his teammates, Bloony realized that Snotty had a point. What were they going to do without him? It would likely end in disaster if they rushed headlong at the Villains of Darkness. It was important for them to think of up a strategy of some kind. But would they do so without his guidance?

Suddenly, Bloony felt strength flowing in his veins…and he managed to break free from the predicament that Jennifer had put him in.

Snotty immediately reacted with surprise. "AARGH! He's escaping!" he screamed. But unfortunately Bloony was too quick for him. He pushed Snotty into a suit of armor, and a helmet immediately fell on his head, blinding him and causing him to run around with circles.

"Get it off me!" he screamed. Jennifer immediately rushed to assist him. This distraction gave Bloony enough time to leave the war room and run away.

Jennifer got the helmet off of Snotty's head shortly afterwards.

"He's probably trying to get back to his teammates as we speak!" Snotty realized. "We have to catch him before he gets too close!" Snotty ordered Jennifer.

"Not to worry. I've got several things that we can use to catch him." Jennifer assured him, pulling out some glue and marbles among other things.

"How do you keep that much stuff in your purse? Ah well, why look a gift Uni in the mouth? But we still need to hurry!" Snotty told her.

And so a chase began between the leader of the Heroes of Light and the two members of the Villains of Darkness.

_Elsewhere in the palace…_

As it turns out, Bloony did not actually have to worry that much about his teammates. Cherry, realizing that Bloony had not ordered his teammates specifically where to search, decided where to do so. She was not sure that Bloony would mind, but she supposed that it was the best course of action to take.

"Marvin, you go that way…Ursula you go that way…" she ordered her teammates. They nodded and they proceeded to split up.

Cherry wondered how Bloony was doing. She got the feeling that he might be in trouble. But there was nothing that she could do about it at the moment. She assured herself that he would be fine, although she wasn't entirely sure.

She also wondered where Gary was, and if Sheldon would find them.

She decided to put these thoughts behind her though, and start looking for the Villains of Darkness herself. She wouldn't let the Villains of Darkness get away with what they've been up to lately.

The problem was actually finding the Villains of Darkness. The palace was huge, and they could be anywhere.

As she thought to herself, she almost failed to notice a certain Lupe creeping up to her until it was too late.

Redtooth pounced towards her. "This time you're mine, Chia!"

Thankfully, Cherry was able to headbutt her at the last second.

Once again, another crazy ambush scenario between the Heroes of Light and the Villains of Darkness had begun.

_The Villains of Darkness never give up do they? You have to admire their persistence…or perhaps you're annoyed by it just like Bloony…_

_By the way, did you think what Snotty and Jennifer did to Bloony was funny? Or did you think what they did to him was heinous? Feel free to leave your thoughts on it in a review._

_In the next chapter, Gary and Sheldon will return to the party, but not before overhearing some unfortunate news._


	34. Chapter 34: Fight in Sahkmet Palace

Saving Neopia

**Chapter 35: On The Run**

Bloony was trying to escape Snotty and Jennifer, who were at that very moment trying to chase him.

"How come they're not getting tired?" wondered Bloony.

"Come back here, Bloony! You're only prolonging the inevitable!" ordered Snotty.

Jennifer pulled out a lasso, and attempted to grab Bloony, who only narrowly dodged it.

They kept at it for what seemed like hours, with Jennifer using banana peels, oil, and whatnot to try to slow Bloony down so that she and Snotty could catch him.

Finally, Bloony reached a dead end, and things looked bleak for him.

"Looks like your luck has finally run out, Bloony! Surrender now and we might go easy on you!" pointed out Snotty.

For a moment, it seemed like our hero was doomed…

Until he noticed a chandelier standing straight above the two of them, and he proceeded to throw a book at it trying to escape Snotty and Jennifer, who were at that very moment trying to chase him.

"How come they're not getting tired?" wondered Bloony.

"Come back here, Bloony! You're only prolonging the inevitable!" ordered Snotty.

Jennifer pulled out a lasso, and attempted to grab Bloony, who only narrowly dodged it.

They kept at it for what seemed like hours, with Jennifer using banana peels, oil, and whatnot to try to slow Bloony down so that she and Snotty could catch him.

Finally, Bloony reached a dead end, and things looked bleak for him.

"Looks like your luck has finally run out, Bloony! Surrender now and we might go easy on you!" pointed out Snotty.

For a moment, it seemed like our hero was doomed…

Until he noticed a chandelier standing straight above the two of them, and he proceeded to throw a book at it.

As the two villains started laughing at how helpless Bloony seemed to be, they failed to notice the chandelier until it was too late.

"AARGH!" Snotty screamed.

"NOOO!" Jennifer exclaimed.

"That should hold you two long enough until I can find the others." Bloony told them.

"CURSE YOU, BLOONY! CURSE YOU! DON'T THINK YOU'VE GOTTEN AWAY WITH THIS!" screeched Snotty.

"OUR TEAMMATES ARE STILL AFTER YOUR FRIENDS AS WE SPEAK!" agreed Jennifer.

"That's right, which is why I can't afford to waste any more time." Bloony stated, as he raced to rejoin the others.

Meanwhile…

"HAHAHAHAHA! You're going to be dinner soon, Chia!" Redtooth yelled, who had managed to corner Cherry similar to how Jennifer and Snotty had managed to do so earlier.

"Why? Why can't Chias and Lupes simply get along in peace!" cried Cherry.

"What can I say? It's the circle of life! Now then, now where were we?"

Just as Redtooth was about to bite Cherry…

BLAM! He was suddenly hit in the back by a laser that came from the other room.

"YEOWCH!" he screamed, discovering that his fur had been burnt by the energy projectile. "WHY?" he exclaimed.

Cherry looked around her, and saw that Marvin was standing right there, with said laser in his hand.

"How did you even build that?" Cherry wondered.

"What can I say? I have a very high IQ." answered Marvin.

"Rocky not need a high IQ to smash you to ground!" said a certain caveman Mynci, who proceeded to grab Marvin's laser and break it in two with his bare hands.

"Aw man, I worked hard on that!" complained Marvin.

Rocky then started beating up Marvin the Mynci on the head with his club, which was very dangerous to him given that he had such a large brain, but thankfully Cherry intervened and started headbutting Rocky away from the now defenseless Mynci, causing him to fall down.

"Stupid Chia! You ruin everything!" yelled out a frustrated Rocky.

"Do you have any spare weapons?" Cherry questioned Marvin.

"No, sorry, I didn't think I would need a spare one." Marvin told her.

"Gee, and I thought you were always prepared, I guess this just isn't our lucky day." Cherry told him.

"Got that right!" Redtooth exclaimed. Furious at losing some of his fur (even though this wasn't the first time) he proceeded to pounce on the two Neopets, trapping both of them underneath him.

"I have to admit, I haven't tried eating a Mynci before…but I suppose there's a first time for everything!"

Suddenly, Redtooth was picked up by Ursula, who proceeded to throw him at Rocky, knocking the latter out cold.

"Rocky can't believe it…Rocky got beaten by a little girl…" Rocky murmured, right before he passed out.

"AARGH! It's one against three now!" Redtooth exclaimed, who decided to run away like a coward to regroup with some of his other members.

"Guess that means we're doing well so far." Ursula told the others.

_Meanwhile at Sahkmet…_

"WAKE UP!" screamed Sheldon.

"What happened?" wondered Gary, who woke up with a start.

"I don't know what caused you to pass out, but we need your help! The Heroes of Light are in trouble again…" Sheldon warned Gary.

"I see…" Gary replied. "I suppose we should go assist them then."

As they left the house (along with the Cobrall, unknown to Gary), they noticed two bandits talking to each other.

"Do you know what happened?" one of the bandits told the other.

"Yeah! Apparently during the chaos we managed to bag Tomos…now that the bandits have him there's nothing that will stop us from taking over Qasala…"

"Right! Nabine will have absolutely no choice to give in to our leaders' desires!"

The two of them started laughing at the thought of ruling Qasala.

"Oh no!" the two of them screamed.

This of course attracted their attention, which prompted them to pull out knives and rush over to our two heroes, trying to make sure they would not tell anyone whatsoever about what was going on.

Of course, they were able to defeat the two without sustaining serious injuries, but the thought of what they had said started to worry them.

"We have to tell the Heroes of Light immediately!" Gary exclaimed worriedly.

"Yeah, I recommend we do that once we've gotten them out of their predicament." agreed Sheldon.

And so the two of them raced over to Sahkmet Palace…

_Back at the palace…_

"Finally! I found you guys! I was worried you got in hot water…" sighed Bloony with relief.

"We almost did, but thankfully we managed to work together." Cherry answered.

"Now then let's find the other members before we can do any more harm shall w-" Suddenly, Marvin was interrupted as Cinder charged at Marvin and Ursula at a nearby statue of Princess Amira, causing it to fall on top of them.

"Gotcha!" Cinder happily exclaimed.

"Well, shoot." Marvin said, right before the statue fell on top of them.

"MARVIN!" screamed Bloony.

"URSULA!" squealed Cherry.

Suddenly, Redtooth pounced on top of Cherry once again, trapping him underneath him.

"Get off me, you brute!" Cherry exclaimed.

Larry then came by and yawned in front of Cherry's face, causing her to fall asleep.

"Zzz…" he whispered, falling asleep shortly afterwards.

"CHERRY!" yelled Bloony. At this point, things were not looking good for our heroes. Not good at all.

Snotty and Jennifer then came by a few seconds afterwards, having finally freed themselves from the chandelier.

"Gosh dang it!" pouted Bloony.

"I have to admit, this surprises even me! You know, I've heard all about Neopia how good always manages to triumph evil, no matter the odds…it's actually quite a strange concept considering how evil tends to be at least twice as strong, am I right?" Snotty stated.

"But no matter. It looks like the winds of change have finally blown in our direction. Now then, what exactly should I do with you now? There are certainly loads of possibilities…"

"THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!" yelled Bloony.

"I'm afraid it is, my friend. Accept your fate. The Villains of Darkness have finally triumphed!" he shouted with delight.

"Are you sure about that?" asked Sheldon, who suddenly ran into the room along with Gary.

"What the-" he exclaimed. "Where did you two come from?"

"Why does that matter?" Gary asked. "We're here to rescue our friends!"

"Not if I have anything to say about! Get them!" Snotty ordered.

Sheldon proceeded to ran circles around Snotty and Jennifer, making them dizzy.

"Quit it!" Jennifer demanded.

Meanwhile, Gary was battling Cinder, who was once again attempted to charge at him. Redtooth attempted to assist him, but once again Gary did not monitor his tail and sent him flying into the roof, knocking Redtooth out cold.

"Funny, I get the feeling that Rocky already met a similar fate…" Snotty thought, noticing that the caveman Mynci had mysteriously vanished.

Gary then proceeded to push the statue off of Marvin and Ursula, placing them back in the fight.

"Oh goody, more Neopets to fight." Larry moaned.

Marvin then proceeded to wake up Cherry, who started fighting as well.

"This is no time to be sleeping, Cherry!" he told her.

"Sorry about that." apologized Cherry.

Marvin then gave Larry a taste of his own medicine by zapping him with his Sleep Ray.

"I thought you said you didn't have any more weapons?" Cherry questioned Marvin.

"I wasn't sure if it actually qualified as one…" replied Marvin.

Cherry sighed.

Ursula meanwhile proceeded to pick up Cinder while he was still charging (causing him to wonder why he wasn't moving while he was doing so) and pin his horn into the wall.

"Get me out of this!" he bellowed.

Finally, all that was left was Snotty and Jennifer.

"I can't believe this! I was so close! Now we're on the ropes!" Snotty exclaimed in disbelief.

"How could things go wrong for us so fast?" Jennifer wondered.

"I might ask you the same question." said Bloony, who proceeded to grab her makeup and spray it at Snotty and Jennifer.

"I can't believe this, you used my own weapon against me…" Jennifer said.

"Everything is getting dark…" Snotty moaned.

Finally, the two of them passed out, just as Cinder collapsed from exhaustion from trying so hard to free himself.

"We did it!" cheered Cherry.

"Now then, what should we do with them?" Bloony looked for suggestions.

"Not to worry, we'll take care of this."

The Heroes of Light looked around, and saw Princess Amira along with several guards.

_Once again I've left the story with a cliffhanger…although I suppose it's not an enormous one seeing though our heroes took down the Villains of Darkness (after a surprisingly close fight, I might add). There are a few questions to be asked though, such as…_

_Will our heroes save Tomos? And how will Princess Amira react to the Heroes of Light? What will become of the Villains of Darkness? Information about these questions will be revealed in the next chapter!_


	35. Chapter 35: Rescue Mission

Saving Neopia

**Chapter 35: Rescue Mission**

After greeting Princess Amira (and apologizing for all the damage their fighting had caused, even though it was the fault of the Villains of Darkness) our heroes were rewarded for their efforts by being paid a generous amount of NP.

"Wow, thanks your highness." stated Bloony.

Afterwards our heroes introduced themselves explaining who they were (of course, we know that they refer themselves as the Heroes of Light by now) and why they came to the Lost Desert, and what they had done to help put an end to the crime wave that had recently occurred.

Apparently, the Jubjub guard that had caused the mess had unsurprisingly been fired, so hopefully nothing like that would happen again.

However, Princess Amira agreed that the Villains of Darkness should be placed under even tighter security; however she could not decide what to do with them.

Meanwhile Ursula and Marvin were relaxing and deciding what to do for fun.

"What do you want to do?" Marvin asked.

"I don't know. Arm wrestle maybe?" Ursula suggested.

Marvin and Ursula immediately got in an arm wrestling match…

And immediately Ursula won, nearly breaking Marvin's arm in the process.

"Ow!" he screamed in pain.

"I'm sorry!" apologized Ursula. Unfortunately, she had forgotten about her super strength until it was too late.

"Let's not do that again." proposed Marvin.

"Agreed." Ursula accepted.

Cherry was once again eating a bunch of food due to her enormous appetite, causing Bloony to roll his eyes in frustration.

But for the moment, it seemed like our heroes' job was done.

Until Sheldon and Gary told them the bad news they had heard recently.

"What?" the Heroes of Light all screamed.

"I'm afraid so! Tomos has been kidnapped! And whoever kidnapped them wants the entire Lost Desert under their control!" warned Sheldon.

"Then I'm afraid that we're going to have to leave! Sorry guys, but I'm afraid being a hero is a full-time job!" Bloony told the others.

The other members of the Heroes of Light sighed, and they got ready to save Neopia once again from whatever threat was plaguing it and trying to stop it from being such a dreary place.

_Meanwhile at Qasala Palace…_

"Nooooo!" Queen Nabile screamed.

"What's the matter?" Jazan asked.

"Tomos has been kidnapped!" she screeched.

"What?" he exclaimed in surprise.

"I just received a ransom note…it says that Tomos has been kidnapped, and unless we surrender the throne to them, he's going to get it!" Queen Nabile then proceeded to sob.

This enraged Jazan, who vowed that he would make whoever was responsible suffer gravely for what they had done. He proceeded to drive his steed (Nightsteed to be more specific) out of the castle, searching for whoever was behind this.

Pretty soon he found footprints leading towards what appeared to be sand, but what was peculiar was that this where was where they stopped…seemingly endless desert.

But Nightsteed was not fooled so easily, and said that the cave had been hidden by invisible paint.

"Oh, of course!" Jazan deducted. If this was the thieves' hideout, then the thieves would theoretically try to hide it from those who would wish to bring them to justice.

Jazan and Nightsteed rushed headlong into the hideout charging at full speed…

And suddenly were ambushed by a bunch of thieves, which included two brown Meercas that Jazan thought looked suspiciously familiar.

"Well, this cannot be good." Jazan worried.

Nightsteed nodded in agreement.

_One massive beatdown later…_

Not long after this mishap, Jazan woke up to find himself in a chair. Naturally, he had been tied to it, and Nightsteed had been chained to the wall. This naturally made him all the angrier.

He looked around him and saw that Tomos had been tied up and gagged and was rolling on the floor saying muffled words.

"Who dares truss me up and my wife's friend like a Gobbler?" Jazan demanded to know in rage.

He was met by two simultaneous laughs.

"I can't believe how easy that was!" one of the Meercas taunted as he and his brother popped out of the shadows.

"Yeah! For a sorcerer you aren't particularly strong!" another one of the Meercas agreed.

The two of them laughed once again.

"Release me or suffer the consequences!" Jazan demanded.

Suddenly, he knew who those two were. They were Heermeedjet and Merouladen, the two Meerca bandits who had tried to steal Coltzan's Crown.

"You!" he screamed.

"Yeah…believe it or not we've gotten ourselves hired once again by the same person who hired us to steal the crown in the first place! Very ironic huh?" Hermeedjet explained.

"Yeah…you know, for a moment, we were actually reluctant to actually work for the old Neopet again…we prefer to commit crimes on our own you see…but then he promised that we would be rewarded for our services with an offer we simply couldn't refuse…we'd be able to help ourselves to some of the loot that we desired in the Qasala Palace…" Merouladen continued.

Jazan's face turned red (even more red than usual) in rage.

"I don't care what your boss has planned for the Lost Desert; he's not getting away with what he has done!" Jazan told the dastardly duo.

"Are you sure? I get the feeling he already has!" Merouladen taunted.

The two of them laughed.

"That's enough you two." said a voice from the shadows.

Suddenly, out of the shadows, a green Skeith wearing a hat and a suit came in the room. Jazan recognized him at once.

"Malkus Vile…you're the one behind this!" screamed Jazan as he struggled with his bonds.

"Of course I'm behind this. Who did you expect? Did you think I would simply ignore such a wealthy area called Qasala? I only heard that it was released from its curse recently…but I realized that if Sahkmet had such a valuable crown, why not check to see if there's anything valuable in Qasala as well? I heard about the crime wave that had spread to both of the cities, so I decided to see if I could bribe them to assist me in my plan…suffice to say they agreed and I succeeded magnificently."

"Suddenly I got a despicable idea….why not try to actually take over Qasala and help myself to all the accessories that come with it? With it under my thumb there would be nobody around to stop me from committing any crime I wanted there. And that's when I got the idea of kidnapping your little sweetheart's former partner…I knew she couldn't bear to see him hurt…so I decided that he would be the perfect bargaining chip…" Malkus Vile explained his scheme.

"When I get out of here you're going to be sorry! You're not going to get away with this!" the royal red Kyrii snarled at the mastermind green Skeith.

"Oh really? In case you haven't noticed, I've gotten away with plenty of crimes before. Remember how I managed to get away with stealing King Coltzan's crown? Granted, I was ultimately forced to part with it…which of course was a shame given how valuable it was…but I assure you that I'm going to find a way to escape even if this does go wrong. And as for what you said about you getting out of here…" he stopped for a moment. "Ah yes, just to make sure you don't get any ideas of escaping, I'm going to have the Meerca Brothers here keep an eye on you and your little pet."

"WHAT?" they exclaimed. Apparently they did not approve of having such a boring job.

"Also, seeing though you like to cast spells…." Malkus Vile proceeded to gag Jazan not unlike what he had done to Tomos, which suffice to say preventing him from saying any spells he could use to get himself out of his predicament.

It was actually possibly a good thing, seeing though Jazan was pretty close to saying something that would be too nasty for a child audience to hear.

"Now then, I'm off to get my sultan costume and a list for the new laws I plan to add while I'm at it, it's quite long but I'm sure I'll manage to complete it eventually. I suppose I might as well get dressed like one if I'm going to become the ruler of Qasala…" he said, as he laughed maniacally.

Jazan thought to himself about nasty things to do to Malkus Vile to punish him for his unforgivable crimes…but quickly he started to worry about Nabile. Would she give in to the horrible criminals' demands? He certainly hoped not…at least until things somehow got better, but would things get better? Things did indeed look bleak…

He thought at the back of his mind…_Someone, please help us..._

_Looks like our heroes have gone out of the frying pan and into a fire…there's an even worse threat out there than the Villains of Darkness…and one is far better at getting away with his crimes than he is…_

_By the way, the Lost Desert arc is starting to become a long one isn't it? This wasn't exactly my original intention, but I hope you're enjoying it anyway. I should be able to complete it in just a couple of chapters or so…or at least I think so anyway._

_What do you think about this sudden plot twist? I actually wasn't originally intending it myself (just like the above thing)…but then I thought, why not? Hopefully Malkus Vile will get his this time…Anyways, feel free to leave a review!_


	36. Chapter 36: Lost Desert Saved

Saving Neopia

_It looks like Jazan didn't succeed in his mission to rescue Tomos by himself…let's hope that our heroes will, shall we?_

**Chapter 36: Lost Desert Saved**

Nabile was busy crying in her throne room. She had just received another ransom letter which strongly suggested that Jazan had not succeeded in rescuing Tomos. Apparently, he was part of the bargain as well.

"How could they do such a thing?" wondered Nabile as she continued crying.

Suddenly, six Neopets came into the room.

"Who are you six supposed to be?" asked Nabile, who stopped crying for a moment to look at them.

"Princess Amira sent us to assist you into rescuing Tomos. She said that he had gotten himself into a nasty situation…" Bloony told her.

Nabile explained to them everything that had happened, including Tomos's recent kidnapping and Jazan's failed attempt to rescue him from his kidnappers.

"Wow, that must be pretty awful." Cherry the Chia expressed her sympathies.

"Not to worry, I might be able to help you. Just let me see those ransom notes." Marvin said.

Nabine gave Marvin the ransom notes, and using a device Marvin was able to identify the culprits using handwriting analysis.

"It seems that the Meerca Brothers and Malkus Vile are behind this, weird I thought they stopped bothering the Lost Desert after they stole King Coltzan's crown…quite a heist I might add." Marvin told the others.

"Malkus Vile is behind this? Good grief!" Ursula exclaimed.

"Yeah, I have no idea how we're going to find him though. He could be anywhere in the Lost Desert!" Marvin the Mynci told the unfortunate truth to the others.

"That does seem to be a problem." agreed Gary.

And so the six of them began thinking about where could the black-hearted scoundrel and his two henchmen could be.

They eventually turned to a map of the Lost Desert. If there was a thieves' hideout in the Lost Desert, where would they hide?

Suddenly, something came into Bloony's head.

"I think they might be hiding outside of town…there's some open space in between Sahkmet and Qasala…that could be where the hideout is." Bloony pointed out.

"Then let's go search for it!" suggested Cherry.

And so our heroes began searching for wherever the thieves could be….

Which proved to be problematic, as the area between Sahkmet and Qasala was still a wide area to cover…

Until Cherry suggested they could use her Snorkle Porkins to follow the thieves' scent…

Soon enough her Snorkle did find what appeared to be a good location for a thieves' hideout…

But there wasn't any hideout there…or was there?

Soon enough Gary came by along with his Cobrall (which he decided to call Venom). He was still frightened by it, even though he recently discovered that it wasn't venomous.

Suddenly, the Cobrall slithered out of his hand and moved towards the hideout. As it turns out, its heat vision prevented it from being fooled by invisible paint…which allowed it to point out where the thieves' hideout was.

"Oh! I get it now!" exclaimed Sheldon.

And so our heroes ventured into the hideout, hoping to rescue their friends.

Of course, they ended up having to fight many thieves.

"Get them! We can't allow them to rescue our hostages!" one of the thieves ordered.

Our heroes dodged many knives, shruikens, and explosives, trying to take down as many of them as they could.

"I didn't know there were so many left…" thought Ursula.

For a moment, it seemed that our heroes were outnumbered by them…

But eventually, they managed to prevail against the thieves and tied them up using some conveniently placed rope.

"Why do they keep so much rope?" wondered Gary.

Finally, there was nothing stopping our heroes from entering the room where Jazan and Tomos were being held, but of course it would not be that easy.

"You six got past all the thieves in the hideout? I can't believe it!" exclaimed Malkus Vile. He had already gotten dressed for the occasion, as he was wearing his sultan suit. "I had just completed my list of laws too!"

Unsurprisingly, Malkus Vile had come up with many laws that would ruin the lives of every citizen in Qasala, such as high taxes, abuse of eminent domain, and the inability to even leave Qasala without paying a high fee.

"No matter! I'm not letting you ruin this when I've gotten this far in my plans! Meerca Brothers, get them! Get those puny little pests!" ordered the villainous Skeith.

"You got it, boss!" acknowledged Heermeedjet.

"We'll take care of these clowns!" agreed Merouladen.

Once again our heroes found themselves in an intense fight. Heermedjet and Merouladen used dirty tactics in their battle, including attacking them from behind, crushing them under loot bags, trapping them with sticky glue, and squirting them in the face with a water gun.

"Hey, fight like Neopets!" demanded Ursula.

The two Meerca Brothers simply laughed.

"I should have known that that those two Meercas wouldn't fight fair." thought Marvin.

Thankfully our heroes started fighting back using comparatively clean methods, such as literally putting their heads together, tossing them up in the air, or simply beating them up.

"OUCH!" the two Meercas exclaimed.

Finally our heroes managed to defeat the two burglars by tying their tails together in a knot.

"Aw, man!" whined Heermeedjet.

"I can't believe we've finally been brought to justice!" Merouladen acknowledged in disbelief.

"Well that takes care of those two bozos, but where is Malkus Vile?" wondered Bloony.

"HELP!" Marvin suddenly screamed. As it turns out, Malkus Vile had snuck off during the fight and had now placed the Mynci in a hostage situation using a dagger.

"Nobody move or your friend is a goner!" Malkus Vile warned as he proceeded to leave the hideout.

"NO! He's getting away!" screamed Sheldon.

At this sight of Malkus Vile once again getting away with his crimes, Jazan got very angry. How dare he use such dirty tactics to get away with kidnapping! Not to mention he'll probably later hold Marvin for ransom as well to get revenge on the Heroes of Light…

Suddenly, he managed to break free, and shot a blast of magic at Malkus Vile, causing him to drop his dagger and Marvin, therefore leaving him without a hostage.

"NO!" shrieked Malkus Vile.

Our six heroes then proceeded to dogpile Malkus Vile and knock him out cold, right before untying Tomos.

"Thanks! I hope that Nabile is alright…Malkus must have given her quite a hard time…" Tomos told them.

And so our heroes finally put an end to the crime wave in the desert. Suffice to say, they were rewarded enormously.

"You're better than the Defenders of Neopia!" one Desert Neopet (a Pteri) exclaimed.

"Cheersssss to the Heroesssssss of Light!" another Desert Neopet (a Hissi) called out.

Suffice to say there was no end to the gratitude.

But at that very moment, a foe that had been hunting them down suddenly came up to them.

"YOU!" he exclaimed.

As it turns out, the Black Knight had finally caught up to them after interrogating several Neopets.

"Oh snap!" Cherry exclaimed.

"My master has been trying to get your hands on you for quite some time…well guess what! Today's the day!" he declared.

The Black Knight came towards the group with a massive hammer, striking Marvin the Mynci on the head and knocking him out.

"Ow…" he murmured, passing out on the floor.

"MARVIN!" exclaimed Ursula.

Ursula, enraged at what The Black Knight had done, picked him up (with some effort, since he was heavy even for her), and tossed him into a wall, denting his armor somewhat.

"Meh, so what if you have super strength! Big deal! Wait until you can see what I can do!" shouted The Black Knight, using his hammer to send shockwaves towards the party.

Unfortunately, due to the fact that she had short little legs, Cherry wasn't good at jumping and got hit by all three, knocking her out too.

"What a world…" whispered Cherry as she passed out too…

"CHERRY!" yelled Bloony.

Enraged, Bloony suddenly picked the Black Knight up using his mind (much to his and his enemy's surprise) and threw him into a wall once again.

"NOT AGAIN!" the Black Knight exclaimed. "Hmm, maybe I should use a different weapon to defeat you…" The Black Knight's hammer suddenly changed into a sword, and he started swinging it at the party.

"DUCK!" Bloony screamed.

Thankfully, our heroes managed to do so without anyone getting knocked out this time.

Gary bit into the Black Knight's armor, giving it even more damage.

"You little…" the Black Knight mumbled. He changed his sword into a scythe, which allowed him to swing in wider arcs.

"Not good…" Sheldon yelled. This time, he was the only one who could dodge and attack the Black Knight at the same time…

But thankfully, this was enough to give the Black Knight even more damage…

Finally, the remaining members of the party attacked the Black Knight all at once…

…and shattered his black armor right off of him, leaving only a Mutant Grundo.

"There was a Neopet underneath all that armor? Curious." noticed Ursula.

"MY ARMOR! NO!" yelled The Black Knight in astonishment. Suffice to say, he was forced to retreat, just like Professor Nyctus and Shuriken before him.

This time, the Lost Desert was truly saved, as there was no villain left in sight.

Not long afterwards, Cherry and Marvin woke up from being so savagely assaulted by the Black Knight.

"What happened?" wondered Cherry.

"What did we miss?" asked Marvin.

Bloony then proceeded to hug Cherry while Ursula hugged Marvin (the latter in which nearly broke his bones), telling them not to do such a thing again.

"I guess we can give that a shot." Cherry said Babaaishly.

"What exactly did we do?" questioned Marvin.

Afterwards our heroes decided to look in the newspaper to see if there was anything horrible happening. They learned that Malkus Vile and the Meerca Brothers had been locked up (much to their relief) so they wouldn't have to worry about them, at least for a while.

Suddenly, it occurred to their attention that bad things were happening in Terror Mountain. Apparently, there had been a strange series of avalanches and blizzards occurring in the area, as well as a strange invasion of Darblats. Now what could possibly be happening there?

Our heroes decided to investigate these chilling events, hoping that they could put an end to them.

And so another adventure began…

_Our heroes have finally ended the horrible events that had occurred in the Lost Desert, but it looks like they've gone out of the frying pan and into the fire…or in this case out of the sand and into the snow…._

_Can they defeat whatever party is responsible for all these disasters?_


	37. Chapter 37: Unhappy Valley

Saving Neopia

**Chapter 37: Unhappy Valley**

When Lord Cataclysm heard about the Black Knight's failure, he wasn't happy. In fact, he decided to torment the Black Knight just as he had tormented Shuriken and Professor Nyctus.

"The incompetence my minions give me is sickening." Lord Cataclysm said as he transformed into a boulder and pinned the Black Knight to the ground.

"Get this boulder off me!" cried out the Black Knight.

Suddenly, Fallenova came into the room.

"I think that you've done enough, my liege." he said, as he came into the room.

"I'm only just beginning." Suddenly, Lord Cataclysm transformed into a flaming meteor, crushing the Black Knight AND setting him on fire at the same time. Fallenova promptly looked away, unable to look at such a horrible sight.

"IT BURNS!" exclaimed the Black Knight.

Finally, Lord Cataclysm transformed back into normal. If one could see underneath his cloak, they could clearly see that he was actually smiling from all the suffering he had inflicted.

"Now then, Fallenova, I'm entrusting you with the task of capturing these Neopets once and for all…" Lord Cataclysm ordered his trusted assistant.

"What, me?" Fallenova reacted with surprise.

"Yes, I've tried virtually everything at this point…Professor Nyctus, Shuriken, and now the Black Knight, basically put I've had quite a hard time bringing these Neopets to me so I can experiment on them to see why they're resisting my influence…I've put roughly half of Neopia under my thumb at this point, but still they insist on continuing to fight me…their resistance to that magical chemical of mine is astounding." stated Lord Cataclysm.

"Well, I suppose if you think I'm ready for this mission." Fallenova agreed to his demands.

"The powers that I have given you should be sufficient for you to bring them down. Of course, if you fail, I suppose I'll have to go after them myself and make them suffer for everything…" Lord Cataclysm pointed out.

Fallenova shuddered at the thought of this, and proceeded to fly out of the Apocalypse Castle to search for our heroes.

Speaking of our heroes…

As soon as our heroes arrived at Happy Valley using a snowmobile that Marvin had built, they found it was quite in a mess.

Many buildings had been ruined, others were snowed in, and there were Darblats all over the place.

"What could have possibly happened to cause all this?" wondered Cherry.

"Funny you should mention that, I heard about a story about this horrible plot at the Ski Lodge at Terror Mountain where this malfunctioning cyborg went on a rampage and started wiping out the Neopets Staff members that were taking residence in the lodge, but I find it unlikely considering that that they're still alive nowadays…" Marvin told the others.

"Yeah, it's still a horrible story to think about, isn't it? Who could have built a cyborg like that, anyway? It'd take someone with an impressive amount of technology, that's for sure." Bloony discussed the story.

"I still don't get how the Neopets staff members are still alive if that story's true." Cherry agreed.

Suddenly, a Christmas Kacheek came by.

"Thank goodness you guys are here! This place is a disaster!" he shouted.

"I can see that…" Bloony agreed.

"Avalanches are heading towards town, blizzards are chilling us to the bone, and Darblats are disturbing the peace!" the Christmas Kacheek explained.

"I guess we'll deal with the Darblats first, that should be a lot easier…" Bloony suggested.

After trying to calm down the Christmas Kacheek (who seemed to be the only person around at that particular moment), our heroes then started picking up the Darblats and placing them inside a large bag.

Afterwards, our heroes then proceeded to take the Darblats away to an iceberg where they wouldn't bother anyone, much to the citizens' relief.

Unfortunately, not everyone turned out to be happy about what they had done.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY DARBLATS?" screamed a furious blue Krawk.

"We took them away to an iceberg so that they wouldn't cause the villagers a hassle." explained Marvin the Mynci.

"YOU WHAT?" she yelled.

"I'm sorry lady but they were proving to be really problematic for the citizens in Happy Valley…which has become Unhappy Valley at this point." stated Marvin.

"HOW DARE YOU!" she screamed. Suddenly, she pulled out a freezing potion and freezed Sheldon solid.

"Guess he won't be running any time soon." worried Cherry.

"SHELDON! NO!" shrieked Gary.

"Now that he's out of the way, I'm going to give you five a new sense of freezer burn!" she exclaimed.

"Hey, I think I know who she is now! She's Lady Frostbite! She's this evil Krawk that wants to start a new ice age…" Marvin told the others.

"Guess we'll have to stop her then…her Darblats have caused enough trouble already." stated Bloony.

And so our heroes got in a fight with the icy Krawk, with the latter throwing many snowballs at the party.

"AARGH! I'm hit!" screeched Ursula, who now had stone snowball right in her face.

"Me too!" yelled Marvin, who now had tartan snowball in her face.

Lady Frostbite then started summoning ice and snow creatures to help her take down the Heroes of Light.

"Uh oh! More trouble!" warned Bloony.

"What should we do?" asked Cherry.

"I got it!" suggested Marvin. Pulling out a Portable Kiln, he started using the flames to roast the snow and ice creatures, therefore causing them to melt.

"NO!" screamed Lady Frostbite.

Marvin then started using the Portable Kiln on Lady Frostbite, therefore suppressing her ice magic.

"I HATE FIRE!" squealed Lady Frostbite.

"Too bad!" answered Marvin, who continued using the Portable Kiln on Lady Frostbite.

"Why does fire always defeat me?" wondered Lady Frostbite, right before she fell on the ground, out cold akin to her element.

Not long afterwards, Bloony called the Defenders of Neopia, who proceeded to take Lady Frostbite and to lock her away.

"I sure hope that the Darblats we took away from Happy Valley are OK." wondered Cherry.

Marvin pulled out a pair of binoculars and saw that they were busy eating fish and sliding on their stomachs. "They look fine to me." confirmed Marvin.

"Now that she's out of the picture, what should we do now?" suggested Gary.

Marvin proceeded to thaw Sheldon out using the Portable Kiln he had used earlier.

"T-t-thanks." Sheldon gave his gratitude, having somewhat of a speech impediment due to being frozen in such cold temperatures.

"I suggest that we go into the Ice Caves and see if there's any trouble there. We might be able to do something about all these avalanches and blizzards if we go inside." ordered Bloony.

And so our heroes prepared to do some more hero work as they went inside the Ice Caves…

_What will our heroes find inside the Ice Caves…will they find someone that will help them with their task of assisting the citizens of Happy Valley? Or will they find themselves in even more trouble? _

_You'll have to wait for the next chapter, unfortunately. But not to worry! The next chapter should (hopefully) come soon, so simply be patient while I continue writing and feel free to leave a review._


	38. Chapter 38: The Ice Caves

Saving Neopia

_In this chapter, we'll get to see what happened to the Villains of Darkness…and our heroes will enter the Ice Caves…_

**Chapter 38: The Ice Caves**

The Villains of Darkness were locked away once again, even though they did not know where they were this time.

As it turns out, Princess Amira had arranged for them to be taken away to a faraway place where they wouldn't cause any more trouble for the Neopian community.

Even if they did manage to escape, the fact that would still be far from the rest of Neopia would be a contingency plan.

"Now where are we?" wondered Snotty.

"We seem to be encased in some strange sort of prison." Redtooth noted.

As it turns out, they had been trapped inside a giant jelly, although they did not realize it yet.

Larry was asleep, and Cinder was furiously trying to get out of his prison, without much success.

"Rocky think this prison is weird!" Rocky exclaimed his opinions.

"Yuck! This is awful!" complained Jennifer.

"Rest assured my team, we will get our way out of this mess somehow." Snotty assured his teammates.

_Meanwhile in the Ice Caves…_

"Gosh, it's even colder here than it was in Happy Valley!" exclaimed Gary.

"Yeah…Terror Mountain is as cold as the Lost Desert is hot!" agreed Sheldon.

"Calm down guys, we need to find someone who can help us with what's happening in Terror Mountain." Bloony ordered his teammates.

Soon enough Marvin and Ursula came across a shop that was filled with Neggs as they searched around for what could be causing the snowstorms.

"Interesting, it seems that this shop is selling Neggs. They don't seem to be worth Neopoints though. Strange." Marvin thought aloud.

Suddenly a Faerie wearing a ripped dress came up to them. "Can I help you?" she asked.

"Hey I know you! You're the Negg Faerie, am I right? May I ask why your dress is ripped like that?" Ursula asked.

The Negg Faerie stated that she got attacked by the Snowager while looking for Neggs, and that was he was currently sleeping in his cave, and that she had not bothered to replace it since then.

"You think he's the one who's causing all the snowstorms? They say that he can breathe ice." Marvin wondered.

"I suppose so…you better be careful if you're going to fight him, they say that he's awfully strong." the Negg Faerie warned the two.

Not long afterwards, Marvin and Ursula went up to the others and explained the situation that was causing the citizens of Terror Mountain so many problems.

"Ah I see, I suppose we'll need to pay a Snowager a visit then?" stated Bloony.

Our heroes went inside the Snowager's Cave, and found the enormous ice worm sleeping.

"Better be careful not to wake him up." thought Cherry.

Unfortunately Marvin was greedy and dove towards one of the eggs, causing it to wake up and start attacking the party.

"What were you thinking?" screamed Bloony.

And so our heroes were forced to do battle with the enormous ice worm, as it spat out ice breath in every direction and used its massive bulk to attack our heroes.

Thankfully, Marvin still had his Portable Kiln, which he used to attack the ice worm.

"ROAR!" it screamed as the Snowager was struck by the thing that it hated most.

Cherry started headbutting the ice worm, causing it to try to take a bite out of her.

"Why do my opponents always try to eat me?" she wondered as she dived out of the way.

Bloony punched the Snowager in the face, causing it to clench its teeth in pain. Sheldon ran circles around the Snowager, causing it to get dizzy as it continued to watch its prey.

Gary then reluctantly bit into the Snowager, which naturally froze his teeth.

"AAUGH! BY REEF!" Gary screamed.

The Snowager then swung his tail at Gary, knocking him out cold.

"NO!" our heroes screamed.

The Snowager then attempted to eat the Grarrl, but thankfully it was stopped by the others, who fired several of their attacks at his head.

The Snowager finally gave up and fell on the floor, unconscious.

Gary woke up a few seconds later with an aching head.

"Did we get him?" he asked.

"We certainly did…anyways do you think that the Cult of Apocalypse members we encountered earlier might have something to do with this?" asked Marvin.

"Yes, I believe I already told you about them, didn't I?" answered Bloony.

"That could be the case, it seems that all of Neopia is starting to have problems like this…of course the Lost Desert incident was caused due to the carelessness of a Jubjub, but I suppose that's as far as it gets.

"So I guess all that's left is to climb to the top of the mountain, then?" asked Cherry.

"I suppose so." agreed Bloony. "Let's exit the caves from the other side and see if we can't get there, shall we?"

Our heroes did what Bloony had suggested, and they managed to climb to the top of the mountain.

"Say, maybe the Snow Faerie can help us?" suggested Marvin.

And so our heroes went to visit the Snow Faerie, who as it turns out was aware of what was going on as well.

"Ah, I see that you wish to help the citizens of Terror Mountain?" asked the Snow Faerie.

The Heroes of Light nodded.

"Very well then, I'll have you know that yesterday I noticed something unusual." the Snow Faerie informed them.

"I wonder why the faeries are always so informative?" wondered Sheldon.

"I guess they just are." replied Gary.

The Snow Faerie informed them that the other day that she had noticed a member of the Cult of Apocalypse using magic to enchant several creatures into doing his bidding, and wondered how said member was so adept at doing so.

"I've heard about the Cult of Apocalypse that have been troubling Neopia lately, but as far as I know none of the members can use magic, how very unusual. I tried to stop him from causing more trouble, but he just flew away. I have no idea how he did that."

"That is pretty strange." suggested Bloony.

"Anyways, I suggest you go after him before he causes any more trouble." the Snow Faerie warned them.

"Thank you, I'll make sure to do t-"

ROAR!

Our heroes turned behind them and saw that they had been followed by a horrible snow monster, known as the Snow Beast.

"Oh no, it looks like one of the enchanted creatures has found us…" the Snow Faerie said sadly.

Our heroes prepared to fight once again, hoping they could take down the abominable snowman like they had taken down the giant ice worm.

_Who could the mysterious member of the Cult of Apocalypse be? And how is he able to use magic? More information will be revealed in the next chapter…_


	39. Chapter 39: Lord Cataclysm's Right Hand

Saving Neopia

_In this chapter, our heroes will face off against the Snow Beast…and will ultimately face their toughest opponent yet… (yes, even tougher than the Black Knight)._

**Chapter 39: Lord Cataclysm's Right Hand**

Fallenova was busy looking over the summit of Terror Mountain, checking to see if he could locate the Heroes of Light in order to battle them as Lord Cataclysm had commanded.

As the second-in-command of the Cult of Apocalypse, Fallenova had control over the vast majority of its members, but he decided to go alone on this mission, believing he could take care of the Heroes of Light himself with his magical abilities.

"It's a shame that I had to enchant so many creatures and wreak havoc upon the populace simply so that I could locate them…" he thought. "I suppose there's no turning back now…"

Fallenova continued searching the skies using his wings, hoping that he could find them and deliver them towards his master, knowing that the rest of the Cult of Apocalypse had already failed to do so.

_Speaking of the Heroes of Light…_

"Whoa, this monster is strong!" exclaimed Bloony, as he commanded his teammates to attack the Snow Beast.

"Defeat that monster!" ordered Cherry, ordering her teammates just as Bloony was, due to the fact that he had recently appointed her second-in-command of the group due to how helpful she was back at the Lost Desert. None of the other members were complaining about this, although it could be confusing at times to take orders from two Neopets at once.

Our heroes were busy fighting the horrible snow monster known simply as the Snow Beast, who was not making life easy for them, throwing massive snowballs and using whatever he could find as weapons in order to put an end to the Heroes of Light and their heroics. Suffice to say, he was causing a lot of destruction within the Snow Faerie's Neohome. Hopefully she had Neohouse insurance, or Snow Faerie Quests would never be the same again.

Ouur heroes had our hands full trying to stop the Snow Beast from causing any more damage as well as trying to knock it out in order to save themselves from it, but thankfully they were managing to hold the Snow Beast off.

The Snow Faerie herself was assisting them in this fight, using freezing magic to lock the Snow Beast in place and giving them snowballs to throw at the hostile creature, making life a lot easier for them.

"Thanks for assistance, we appreciate it." Marvin expressed his gratitude.

"Seeing though we defeated the Snowager, I don't think he should be too much of a problem." Ursula thought.

"Right behind you!" warned the Snow Faerie, as the Snow Beast prepared for another attack.

Luckily, Marvin and Ursula were able to jump out of the way in time as the Snow Beast came charging, hoping to strike the duo with his sharp horns.

Sheldon was as usual trying to make his opponent dizzy, and Gary was busy hiding in the corner. Apparently, he had gotten too frightened of the monsters he had been facing to continue fighting, and instead he started crying.

After many attacks from both sides, the Snow Beast finally grew exhausted from being attacked for so long, and he fell on the floor unconscious as Ursula picked him up and threw him back inside the lair of the Snow Beast.

"Hopefully the villagers won't have to feed him unfortunate Petpets in order to keep him fed for a while." Ursula assumed.

"Thanks, it is a pity that most of my house was destroyed during the fight, but I suppose that can't be helped." the Snow Faerie said sadly.

"I sure hope you can repair it." Gary stated his sympathies.

"Maybe we should have tried to lure it out of the house?" suggested Marvin.

"Not to worry, I'll help!" Running as fast as he could, Sheldon started placing everything back where he was, and was done in about five minutes or so. Even his teammates were impressed by what he had done.

"Wow, I have to admit, you certainly are a fast Neopet." the Snow Faerie congratulated him.

"I know, I don't understand how I am so fast myself." Sheldon answered back.

Our heroes then left the house, believing that their task was finally done now that they had put an end to the avalanches and everything was fine now.

Soon enough they received gratitude for what they had done. At this point, the Heroes of Light had gotten used to it.

"Thank you for everything you have done!" thanked the mayor of Happy Valley. "We thought we were done for, but you and your friends assisted us at the last second!

"Hip hip hooray!" the citizens of Terror Mountain exclaimed.

As a reward, each of our heroes was able to pick an item of Terror Mountain to go with them, as well as a hefty amount of Neopoints. Sheldon decided to take a Jinjah, as the little gingerbread men reminded him of himself due to how much they liked to exercise.

However, just as our heroes were about to leave, their luck suddenly ran out.

"I finally found you!" exclaimed Fallenova, glad he had spotted them at last.

Our heroes looked behind them and saw Fallenova, who was busy flying right above them.

"Wow!" our heroes exclaimed.

"You think that he's the one whose responsible for enchanting all those creatures?" asked Cherry.

"I'm afraid that appears to be the case! Why did you do something so cruel?" Marvin questioned him.

"Simple, due to the fact that you always arrive whenever something is wrong with Neopia, I figured that you would come to Terror Mountain and try to straighten out the situation. I have to admit, you and your teammates sure are predictable." replied Fallenova.

"We won't let you get away with what you have done! You're going to regret trying to ruin the lives of everyone in Terror Mountain!" declared Bloony.

"If that is what you say." Suddenly, Fallenova fired a fireball at our party, who were forced to jump out of the way.

"Whoa!" our heroes exclaimed.

"Now then, let me see what you can do, shall we?" Fallenova asked of the Heroes of Light.

_Things do not look for our heroes, they're up against their greatest threat next to Lord Cataclysm himself! Will they prevail? Or will their guardian angels abandon them? All will be revealed in the next chapter of Saving Neopia! Yes, I am leaving a lot of cliffhangers, but I certainly hope that you enjoy them._


	40. Chapter 40: Crushing Defeat

Saving Neopia

_By now, you're probably expecting that the Heroes of Light are going to win this fight, am I right?_

_Well, I'm sorry to say, but our heroes are not invincible and cannot simply plow through every opponent they came across, as you'll find out in this somewhat tragic chapter._

**Chapter 40: Crushing Defeat**

Our heroes were fighting Fallenova, who unfortunately was dodging their every blow with ease. Bloony wondered how he was dodging their attacks so easily.

As it turns out, Lord Cataclysm had recently had Professor Nyctus inject him with a chemical that increased his strength and his speed, making it seem to him like their attacks were coming in slow-motion.

"I have to admit, what that doctor gave me certainly is quite useful. In fact, it's making this battle all too easy." he thought.

Our heroes continued fighting valiantly despite this unfortunate truth, but ultimately they were no match for Fallenova.

One by one our heroes fell. Sheldon tripped over a puddle that Fallenova left behind and was subsequently frozen. Gary was cornered by minions summoned by dark magic and subsequently passed out from fright. Ursula was set on fire and passed out from the flames. Marvin was struck by lightning which was amplified by his metal equipment and took a dirt nap too.

Last but not least, Cherry was crushed underneath a boulder that Fallenova had summoned, which suffice to say was enough to render her heavily unconscious.

"So, have you given up yet?" Fallenova asked him curiously.

"CHERRY!" Bloony screamed. Bloony looked around him and discovered the similar fates that his friends had received. "Marvin, Ursula, Gary, Sheldon…" Bloony turned towards Fallenova shortly afterwards. "How could you do this to my friends?" Bloony screamed.

"Well, they wouldn't come along quietly, so that's what I had to d-"

Suddenly, Fallenova was interrupted when Bloony accidentally pressed a button on Marvin's rocket launcher, causing a rocket to be launched straight at Fallenova's face.

It was a direct hit that blew his mask off, or as it turns out it blew her mask off.

Much to Bloony's surprise, Fallenova was actually a Faerie.

"AAH!" the right-hand of Lord Cataclysm screamed. "What have you done?" she screamed. Suddenly, her voice no longer seemed masculine, as the mask that her master had given her was designed to not only hide her face, but to disguise her voice to make it seem like she was male.

"YOU'RE A FAERIE?" Bloony screamed.

"I suppose there's no use hiding it now…seeing though you blew my mask clean off…did you have any idea what you could have done?" Fallenova screeched.

"I'm sorry! It was an accident…besides; you were the one attacking me!" Bloony apologized Babaaishly.

Fallenova picked up Bloony with one of her hands and raised him up in the air, holding him close to her. Once again, the chemical that Professor Nyctus had given her had come in handy.

"I've had enough of the damage you've done to the organization, Neopet! Did you have any idea how angry you've made Lord Cataclysm?" she barked at Bloony.

"I assume Lord Cataclysm is your leader. What can I say? My teammates and I couldn't stand by and watch him ruin Neopia!" Bloony said in response.

"He is not ruining Neopia! He is making it a better place for everyone! He said so himself!" Fallenova told him in response. She clenched Bloony tighter, causing him to start suffocating.

"Perhaps with that knowledge you won't start interfering with our plans anymore." Suddenly, she started plucking hairs from Bloony and his teammates, causing the former to flinch in pain as he did so.

Placing the DNA into vials she conjured, Fallenova then placed them inside a bag.

"Farewell, Heroes of Light! I hope that you won't interfere with the Cult of Apocalypse's plans now that you know what the Cult of Apocalypse is really about!" Suddenly, Fallenova flew away into the sky, ready to return to her master.

Bloony passed out a short while afterwards, still suffering from a lack of oxygen.

_At the Snow Faerie's estate…_

The Heroes of Light woke up a few hours later resting in several beds.

"Ugh, that was awful…" Cherry murmured, clutching her head.

"The Negg Faerie found you on the ground while you were leaving. She said she wanted to say goodbye to you…and suffice to say things went downhill from there." the Snow Faerie told them.

"I'm glad that I managed to find you, I wouldn't want you to meet an untimely fate…" agreed the Negg Faerie.

Bloony explained to the others everything that had happened, stopping to take a breath from time to time due to the fact that he could still feel Fallenova's fingers on his neck.

"Fallenova's a girl? I don't believe it!" exclaimed Ursula.

"Was she pretty?" Marvin asked. Ursula punched him in the elbow, causing him to flinch in pain.

"You could have broken it!" he exclaimed.

"Fallenova's a Faerie? Suddenly that explains that wings and the fact that she's so adept at magic…" Sheldon thought.

"For a Faerie she's pretty terrifying!" Gary screamed, who started breaking down in tears.

"That still doesn't explain how she would be so skilled at all six schools of magic…as far as I know most faeries only specialize in one type of magic." Marvin thought. "Perhaps I should start doing research on the Cult of Apocalypse."

"For now, I suggest we start doing some training or something in case we encounter Fallenova again. She beat the dung out of us." Bloony suggested to the others.

"I suppose that's a pretty good idea, something tells me that we will encounter Fallenova again." agreed Cherry.

"But where could we go in order to get stronger?" Marvin asked.

"I suggest we head to the Haunted Woods, they say that it's filled with horrible monsters. Besides, there might be people here that might need our assistance." Bloony told them.

"Aah! Not the Haunted Woods! The Haunted Woods give me nightmares!" screeched Gary.

"I know I know, the Haunted Woods is not the liveliest place in Neopia. But we should be fine. Just look after yourself." Bloony tried to comfort his comrade.

"Fine." Gary agreed half-heartedly. "But would you mind getting me a pair of pants?" he asked.

"Why would you need a pair of-Eww! Gross!" Cherry realized.

And so our heroes left in order to go to the Haunted Woods, which as it turns out was suffering from even worse monsters than usual.

_Our heroes got quite a beating, didn't they? But thankfully they're not going to give up and are instead looking for ways to get stronger! Hopefully our heroes will succeed, as the Cult of Apocalypse is hiding behind every corner._

_In the next chapter, we'll get introduced to a new character…and we'll get to see what Lord Cataclysm is up to again…naturally he won't be up to anything good. Also, we'll get to learn more about him._


	41. Chapter 41: Desdemona the Dark Faerie

Saving Neopia

_In this chapter, our heroes will venture to the Haunted Woods, where they will find their final teammate…one that's arguably the most surprising…_

**Chapter 41: Desdemona the Dark Faerie**

Lord Cataclysm was sitting in his throne, satisfied that Fallenova had defeated the Heroes of Light at last and had given him DNA samples that could be used in order to study why they were so resistant to his dark magic.

"Good, Fallenova…I've obtained what I needed from the Heroes of Light…I'll make sure to give these to Professor Nyctus. Hopefully he'll be able to discover why these Neopets have resisted me for so long…and hopefully we'll be able to bring them under his control…" Lord Cataclysm grinned with satisfaction.

Suddenly, he noticed that Fallenova was not wearing her mask anymore.

"May I ask what happened to your mask?" Lord Cataclysm asked with curiousity.

"It got blown off during the fight, I'm pretty sure everyone here knows that I'm a Faerie at this point. I have to admit, they were certainly surprised when they found out." Fallenova told him.

"I see, I take it that you won't need the disguise I gave to you then?" Lord Cataclysm told her.

Fallenova nodded, and removed the long cloak that Lord Cataclysm gave her. She was wearing a strapless rainbow dress underneath and had long rainbow hair. Unlike certain faeries who thought being barefoot in public was acceptable, she was wearing glass slippers.

"Phew, it feels good to finally get that over with. I have to admit, it was awfully sweaty." Fallenova stated with relief.

"Now then, now where we, my right-hand? Ah yes. The next task I'm giving you is to crush the Heroes of Light and destroy them once and for all." Lord Cataclysm stated.

"What? I thought I had already convinced them that what we were doing was for the greater good." Fallenova stated in response.

Lord Cataclysm, glad that Fallenova had fallen for his lies, told her that at this point the Heroes of Light were beyond redemption, and that they had to be put down in order to prevent them from disbanding the Cult of Apocalypse for good.

"I'm not sure about this, my lord." Fallenova stated.

"Are you going against orders, Fallenova?" Lord Cataclysm stated, transforming into a horrible monster.

"No, of course not!" Fallenova exclaimed. As it turns out, she was quite frightened of Lord Cataclysm at times, even if she thought he was a hero that was assisting all of Neopia.

"Then you will do as ordered." demanded Lord Cataclysm, as he transformed back to his normal form.

To Fallenova, Lord Cataclysm resembled a knight in shining armor underneath his cloak, as she thought he was a hero.

"Very well, I'll do as you say." Fallenova said reluctantly as she left the room.

"I'm not sending you after them right now, however. Right now I'm planning to remove a larger threat." he stated.

"Who?" Fallenova asked curiously.

"It's Queen Fyora. She's discovered what I've been up to lately, and she's not been happy about it. She's assembled every powerful Faerie in Neopia and now she's planning to bring me to justice as we speak." Lord Cataclysm told her.

"If you say so." Fallenova answered. She was reluctant to betray her former mistress like this, but she felt that there was no turning back to her now that she had joined her enemies.

"Now you better get prepared, we'll be doing so in the near future." Lord Cataclysm told her.

Fallenova proceeded to leave Lord Cataclysm's throne room and headed towards her own.

As she left, Lord Cataclysm started to think about his past. It seemed like just yesterday when he was created by temperamental Faerie Council members who were fighting due to their vast differences in personality, which itself was caused due to the fact that they were all different types of Faerie.

He had been created from their magic one day when things had grown intense, although he had been forming for quite some time due to the fact that they had been ignorant during their petty squabbles, and he proceeded to attack and drain them all of their magic that same day using his dark powers he had obtained from their hostility, transforming them into Grey Faeries, never to be heard from again. He chuckled at remembering the horrified looks on their faces as he took everything from them that they held dear.

Afterwards, Lord Cataclysm had discovered that he had the ability to shapeshift due to his unstable structure from the anger and hostility involved in his creation, and proceeded to recruit various people that would later become members of the Cult of Apocalypse that had particularly horrible lives, hoping that he could use their sorrow and frustration to manipulate them.

He had created the Apocalypse Castle himself, using the Faerie magic he had stolen to create this horrifying piece of architecture.

Afterwards, he had tricked Professor Nyctus and Fallenova into creating a mixture of Faerie magic and science in order to create a chemical that would place everyone under his control and force them to do despicable things. He hoped that by doing so he could turn Neopia into a world of pure evil and become its absolute ruler while he was doing so.

He chose to hide this objective from even his fellow comrades, knowing that even they would be horrified at such an idea and would likely leave his service, instead lying to them and telling them that the chemical he had created would instead turn Neopia into a better place, one that would be free from pain and suffering when it would in fact be the opposite.

He decided not to hide this from the Heroes of Light if the opportunity arose however, as they were already dedicated to stopping him in the first place so it was pointless to keep this secret from them and could likely defeat them if they chose to fight him due to the fact that he was even stronger than Fallenova, the one that had finally defeated the Heroes of Light at last.

He thought about how well his plans were going, and decided to let out an evil laugh.

_Speaking of the Heroes of Light…_

Desdemona was always different from the other Dark Faeries. Unlike them, she was not interested in ruining the lives of various Faeries and Neopets simply for their personal pleasure, and she had white skin instead of purple skin. She could not understand how they could be so sadistic.

She had a pet Devilpuss, however it was surprisingly good-natured in comparison to other Devilpusses, given that it always kept itself clean and did not try to break anything.

She wished that she could simply fit in, but the other Dark Faeries chose to not let her play in any of their twisted games simply because she was different.

One day however her life would ultimately change. She was reading a book about other Dark Faeries when suddenly she heard a knock at her door. She opened the door and noticed several people wearing strange cloaks, and wondered who they could possibly be.

"Can I help you?" she asked.

"We're looking for more members to join our group, and we figured that the Haunted Woods would be an ideal place to look, seeing though it's filled with citizens that love to scare people or are simply downright evil." the leader of this group of Cult of Apocalypse members stated.

"What do you guys do?" Desdemona requested.

"Well, we spray Neopia with a chemical that causes them to do our bidding, although our leader says that it'll allow us to make it a better place." the tallest Neopet (a Chomby) stated.

"Sorry guys, but it seems too much like an alien invasion to me." Desdemona turned down the offer.

"I suppose that we'll have to bring you to our leader and get him to persuade you to our method of thinking." the evil Chomby told her.

The Chomby whistled, and two of the members pulled out some rope and a gag.

"Sorry guys, but just because I'm a Dark Faerie doesn't mean that I'm interested in that kind of stuff." Desdemona told them, unaware of what they were planning to do.

The Cult of Apocalypse proceeded to tie her up, and placed a gag in her mouth to prevent Desdemona from getting assistance.

"Mph! Mmmph!" exclaimed Desdemona, which roughly translated to "This is crazy! Let me go!".

The Cult of Apocalypse placed her into a bag, and were about to take her away when suddenly the Heroes of Light came by.

"Uh-oh." one of the members (an Ixi) spoke out.

"What's in that bag?" inquired Bloony.

"Um…nothing…" lied a Poogle member who was standing right next to it.

Quickly, the Heroes of Light realized what was going on.

"You're kidnapping someone, aren't you? Charge!" ordered Cherry.

Before the Cult of Apocalypse members knew it, they found themselves beat up and hanging from a tree using some rope our heroes had brought themselves.

"Let us down!" demanded a Kougra member.

"I'm afraid of heights!" shrieked a Pteri member.

The other members stared at him for a moment.

"Heh heh…" the Pteri member laughed nervously, obviously embarrassed.

Gary was sent to retrieve the bag that Desdemona was contained in. Suffice to say, he screamed when he found out what was inside.

"Aah! It's a D-Dark F-Faerie!" he screamed.

"Why would they kidnap a Faerie like that?" wondered Ursula.

"Maybe the Cult of Apocalypse simply doesn't like Faeries?" answered Marvin.

The Heroes of Light decided to introduce themselves towards Desdemona, telling them what they were doing and asked if she wanted to join.

"Well, the Cult of Apocalypse told me their plans, which I didn't approve of, and tired to kidnap me, so I suppose I'm in." Desdemona told them.

"Are you sure about this, Bloony?" asked Sheldon.

"She may be a Dark Faerie, but I believe that she deserves a chance. Besides, the way I see it, I don't think she'd want to join the Cult of Apocalypse." Bloony told the others.

The others reluctantly decided to let her join Desdemona for the time being, although they kept an eye on her to make sure she didn't do anything suspicious.

Suffice to say however, our Heroes of Light now had a group of seven, and that was a lucky number indeed.

_Well, what do you think of Lord Cataclysm now that you learned his terrible backstory? And what do you think of our new protagonist?_


	42. Chapter 42: Tricks and Treats

Saving Neopia

_In this chapter, our heroes will split up to fight various monsters that are making the more peaceful citizens of Haunted Woods miserable…some of which will appear in this chapter…_

**Chapter 42: Tricks and Treats**

"Hey guys, guess which Petpet I found!" squealed Ursula.

"What did you find, Ursula?" Bloony asked her curiously.

Ursula pulled out a Slorg, much to the latter's disgust.

"Ursula, that Petpet of yours is going to leave slime behind wherever it goes! Do you honestly want that?" Bloony scolded her.

"It leaves slime behind? I like this Neopet already!" Ursula squealed again.

Bloony put his hand on his forehead in frustration.

"You know, maybe I could build my own Petpet, they say that some of them are robots." Marvin told the others.

"Anyways, due to the fact that there have been so many monsters located in this area, I suggest that we split up and look for the ones that are causing the most problems among the local populace. Cherry and I will go this way, you and Marvin can go that way, and Sheldon and Gary can go that way." Bloony ordered as he pointed in different directions.

"What about me?" Desdemona asked.

"I suppose that you'll be fine by yourself, I believe that your magic should be able to protect you in case anything goes wrong." Bloony told his latest comrade.

"Sounds good to me!" agreed Cherry.

And so the Heroes of Light went off to deal with whatever was scaring the pants out of the villagers, while Desdemona was left alone to fend for herself.

"You know, I'm starting to get the feeling that the other Heroes of Light are trying to avoid me. Why do they think I'm evil? Is it because I'm a Dark Faerie?" Desdemona wondered.

Suddenly, out of nowhere the Pant Devil appeared, attracting the attention of nearby Whoots who had sensed his approach.

"Looks like today's not your lucky day!" he laughed.

"Oh brother, not him!" Desdemona exclaimed in frustration, recognizing him as the blue phantom that repeatedly stole from Neopians. "What could he want from me?"

Desdemona's question was answered when the Pant Devil grabbed onto her dress and started pulling at it.

"How dare you! Let go!" she demanded.

Eventually, the Pant Devil succeeded in ripping off a piece of it, which was very pricey as the dress cost a lot of Neopoints.

"Now you've done it!" she screamed in rage.

The Pant Devil simply laughed. "I wonder if she has anything else that was valuable…" he murmured.

Desdemona, furious at what the Pant Devil had done, proceeded to cast a polymorph spell on him, transforming him into a Mortog.

"Aargh!" he screeched as he was transformed.

"That should teach him a lesson about trying to take things from others. Let's see now…that wasn't a permanent spell…so it should wear off in about a week." Desdemona told him as he began to hop away.

_Meanwhile at the Deserted Fairground…_

"Place the Mootix in this bean machine right here and win a prize!" the Lupe standing outside the bean machine told Sheldon and Gary as they were visiting.

"Are you sure you should be treating Mootix like that?" Sheldon asked him.

Gary, who at this point was utterly terrified at the creepy scenery around him, was already hyperventilating using a paper bag.

Eventually he started running around in a panic, removing the books that the Lupe had used to raise the bean machine so that he could cheat Neopets out of their money. But this time around his actions had gone unnoticed.

Suffice to say, this allowed Sheldon and Gary to gain far more Neopoints than usual from this game, much to the Lupe's shock and frustration.

"What the heck is going on?" he wondered.

Eventually, the Lupe ran out of Neopoints, and he got very angry at them.

"Don't you ever play this game again!" he demanded.

"Fine, sheesh!" Sheldon answered back.

Next our duo attempted to play a game of Cork Gun Gallery, but unfortunately neither of them had good aim.

"It's just our luck, isn't it?" Sheldon pouted.

Our heroes also attempted to play a game of Coconut Shy, but Gary knocked over the coconuts with his tail, frustrating the Quiggle who was in charge.

"When I said that you would get a prize if you knocked down the coconuts, I meant knock them down using some tennis balls!" the furious Quiggle told them.

"Sorry about that, my buddy here is a little clumsy." Sheldon told him Babaaishly.

Finally, our two heroes stopped by the Scratchcard Kiosk in the area, which was run by a creepy Nimmo known as Sidney.

"Ssssssooo….you wisssssh to try sssssome of my sssscratchcardssss, am I correct?" Sidney asked them.

"I don't like this guy, I think he's creepy." cried out Gary.

"Calm down buddy, I'm sure that just because he has a speech impediment doesn't mean that he's a bad guy." Sheldon attempted to calm him down.

Our heroes scratched out a scratchcard, and ended up receiving a Level 3 prize.

"Alright!" Sheldon cried out with excitement.

"I ssssee that you got lucky playing my game of sssscratchcardssss…I ssssupposssse I'll reward you by letting you fight me at the Battledome…." he responded.

"See, he's actually a pretty nice guy!" Sheldon told his current partner.

Gary let out a sigh of relief. "If you say so. I'm just glad that this place isn't dangerous."

Suddenly, a red alarm went off.

"What's wrong?" Sheldon wondered.

"This can't be good! Blaring red alarms never mean anything good!" Gary proceeded to break down into tears.

"Oh brother, it appearsss that the robotic Chia Clownsss from the nearby carnival are causing problemsss again." Sidney murmured in unhappiness.

All around them the game stalls were suddenly closing, their owners apparently not wanting anything to do with the robots that continued to pester them from time and time.

Eventually, several of them came, one of which threw a pie in Sheldon's face.

"HEY!" Sheldon screamed. "That was uncalled for!"

Once again, Gary panicked and started running around in circles, breaking a few of the robots with his tail in the process.

"Good idea, Gary! Maybe you should try biting them too!" Sheldon suggested.

Reluctantly, Gary did so, taking out a large of piece of circuitry in the process.

Sheldon himself would run behind the Chia Clowns and pull off their clockwork springs, causing them to shut down.

The robot Chia Clowns would not give up that easily, however. More of them came down using toy umbrellas, while others revealed themselves from their hiding spots.

"There's too many of them!" yelled Gary.

For a moment it seemed that our heroes were hopelessly outnumbered and they would meet a defeat not unlike what they had experienced back at Terror Mountain…

But eventually, the Chia Clowns chose to retreat back at the carnival that had become abandoned thanks to their wrongdoings, allowing everyone to have some peace.

"I wonder who made them anyway. They sure seem to be impressive pieces of technology." Sheldon thought.

Our heroes were thanked for helping keep the obnoxious and somewhat dangerous Chia Clowns from overrunning the fairground, and were given some NP for their trouble.

"I hate clowns." Gary spoke out loud his opinions.

Afterwards, the two of them proceeded to attempt to look for the others, believing that their part of the work was done.

_The Haunted Woods is filled with games to play, but it is also filled with rather dangerous adversaries, can our heroes survive out in this dark forest?_

_In the next chapter, we'll get to see what Bloony and Cherry are up to…_


	43. Chapter 43: Face of the Enemy

Saving Neopia

_In the last chapter, we got to see what Desdemona, Sheldon, and Gary had been up to. Well, in this chapter, our point of view will be changed towards Bloony and Cherry's perspective, as they continue to search for information about the Cult of Apocalypse._

_Suffice to say, they'll actually obtain some pretty decent information…including what their leader looks like…as well as what the Cult of Apocalypse is using as a base…_

**Chapter 43: Face of the Enemy**

Bloony and Cherry were searching the western part of the Haunted Woods, hearing about how several of its citizens had been acting strangely lately.

"It seems that the Cult of Apocalypse must be causing trouble again." Cherry stated.

"That would explain the members that we encountered earlier." Bloony agreed.

They decided to search Edna's Tower, seeing if she had any information for the two of them.

"Aah, I see that you two wish to know about what is happening to the Haunted Woods, do you not? I've heard reports saying that you're trying to stop the Cult of Apocalypse. Well then, I've got a spell that might reveal the enemy that you are facing…just get the ingredients on the shelf and we can get started." Edna requested.

Bloony and Cherry did as Edna asked, and she proceeded to place them in the cauldron.

"Now then, everything should be clear to you in just a moment." Edna started murmuring some magic words, and pretty soon an image resembling that of a scary-looking castle appeared on the map.

"Interesting, you think this is where their hideout is located?" Cherry asked.

"It would appear that way. I suppose that we've been denied entrance for the moment, however. We still don't have any idea where it is." Bloony answered.

Edna continued murmuring more magic words, and eventually the leader of the group appeared in the cauldron, sitting on his throne.

"That's Lord Cataclysm?" Bloony questioned in response.

"Ah yes, that would appear to be the group leader. Unfortunately, that's all I can do for you at this particular moment." Edna told them sadly.

"Oh well, I suppose that we'll figure out where to find the Cult of Apocalypse's stronghold eventually." Cherry assured Bloony.

"I suppose that we will. The question is though how will we actually get inside? And how will we defeat their leader?" Bloony wondered.

Suddenly, snot started dripping from the ceiling.

"Yuck! What is this disgusting substance?" Cherry wondered.

"I've got a bad feeling about this." Bloony worried.

Suddenly out of nowhere, the ceiling collapsed, and into the building came a disgusting snot Meerca. Bloony and Cherry both recognized him at once.

"Meuka!" they both screamed.

"Hahahaha! That's right; I'm here to devour some Neopets for lunch! Let's see now, I think that I'll start with you!" Meuka exclaimed, pointing at Bloony and Cherry.

"Why do all my opponents want to eat me?" wondered Cherry. It was starting to get old.

"It's weird, I don't recall him usually breaking into buildings in order to attack his prey." questioned Bloony. "Something must be up with him."

Suffice to say, our heroes were forced to fight the snot monster in combat. Thankfully, due to the fact that Meuka was made of a water-like substance, he was vulnerable to several of the concoctions inside of Edna's tower.

"Be careful with those!" warned Edna.

"Get in my belly!" Meuka demanded, pouncing at both of our heroes, who narrowly jumped out of the way.

Suffice to say, Meuka received several damaging effects from the potions, such as being burned, being frozen, being electrocuted, and other nasty things.

"Watch out for that nasty goo that he's using as a weapon against us!" warned Cherry.

On the other hand, many of our heroes' weapons didn't have much of an effect on him, due to the fact that they went through his body.

"Good grief! How are we supposed to damage him like this?" wondered Bloony.

Unfortunately, Meuka persisted on fighting despite everything that our two protagonists did to him, eventually flinging snot at the leader of the Heroes of Light and locking him in place, putting him at a severe disadvantage for the rest of his fight.

"Aargh! I'm trapped!" Bloony exclaimed, trying to struggle his way out of the sticky mucus but to no avail.

Suddenly, Cherry pulled out a carton of orange juice.

"That's weird, why would Edna keep orange juice in her refrigerator? You'd think she'd place witches brew in there or something."

This made Meuka suddenly back away. Due to the fact that the orange juice contained Vitamin C, it was poisonous towards him, and could do him in if he was splashed with enough of it.

"Aargh! Keep that away from me!" he screamed.

Immediately, Cherry got an idea.

"Oh, so you don't like Vitamin C, huh Meuka? It'd make sense given that you're much like the common cold…so why don't you have some!" Cherry exclaimed, squirting the carton in the Meerca's face.

"Aargh!" Meuka screamed, who suddenly shrank somewhat in size.

Cherry kept spraying him with the orange juice, causing him to decrease more and more in size, until he was barely as large as Cherry's foot. The Red Chia then proceeded to step on him, ending his rampage for the time being.

"Gross! I guess I'll have to wash that off later…" Cherry thought.

"If you two excuse me, I'll be preparing a spell that will clean up the mess that despicable creature made." Edna told the duo, leaving the room to get her spellbook.

Our Chia hero then proceeded to pour the orange juice on the snot that was locking Bloony in place, allowing him to move around once more.

"Thanks, I have to admit, that orange juice we found in Edna's refrigerator was a lifesaver." Bloony complimented.

"What should we do now?" Cherry asked.

"I suggest that we return to the others now that we defeated that nasty abomination of a Meerca." ordered Bloony.

"Whatever you say, pal." Cherry agreed.

As our heroes left, they both wondered what exactly the Cult of Apocalypse was currently planning. They could tell that they had already done some work at the Haunted Woods, but they got the feeling that they were going to do something bigger.

_Meanwhile at the Apocalypse Castle Laboratory…_

"Very interesting…" thought Professor Nyctus, currently studying the DNA samples that Fallenova had given him.

"Gosh, can you believe that Fallenova was a girl the entire time? It's totally nuts!" Steven expressed his feelings.

"Yes, it was quite unusual my apprentice. Anyways, there does not seem to be anything particular about this DNA, aside from the fact that it seems to emit a slight sparkle…I suppose I'll have to do more research about what's going on later.

Suddenly, Shuriken came into the room.

"Yes, what do you want, ninja?" Professor Nyctus asked him curiously.

"Didn't you hear? Lord Cataclysm's planning an attack on Faerieland, and he says that he wants all the help he can get." Shuriken informed the mad doctor.

"Can't we just spray it with that chemical like we did with roughly half of Neopia at this point?" Professor Nyctus asked him curiously.

"He stated that the faeries would be more resistant to it than Neopets…he also said that there's currently someone there who's plotting against him…someone who he wants to shut down." the ninja once again explained.

"I see…funny you should mention that, I believe I just built a robot for that particular purpose." Professor Nyctus suddenly pressed a button, and a large door suddenly started opening.

Behind the door was a fairly massive robot, with a control panel on the robot's head for the purpose of controlling it.

Shuriken and Steven could only look at the colossal robot in awe.

"I was saving this for the Heroes of Light when I next encounter them, but perhaps this will serve me just as well once Lord Cataclysm is ready to launch his assault at those who are foolish enough to ally themselves with our enemies…" Professor Nyctus stated.

He then proceeded to let out an evil laugh, as Shuriken and Steven continued to stare at the enormous robot.

_This doesn't look good; Professor Nyctus has finished a massive robot built specifically for destroying the Heroes of Light once and for all! Will our heroes survive when it's sent after them?_

_In the next chapter, we will focus on Marvin and Ursula, the two characters we have not yet had the chance to monitor…._


	44. Chapter 44: Spider Grundo Ruins The Day

Saving Neopia

_So, do you get the reference in the chapter title? If not, you probably need to read more comics…anyways, in this chapter Desdemona will have an encounter with the Spider Grundo, and our heroes will start to regroup._

**Chapter 44: Spider Grundo Ruins The Day**

Once again, Desdemona began to wonder why the Heroes of Light had chosen to leave her alone to fend for herself.

She realized that it was possibly because they had an odd-numbered amount of her teammates, which meant that one of them would have to go solo whenever they split up in pairs, but she still got the feeling that they wanted to avoid her.

As Desdemona thought to herself, a menacing Grundo came up to her. But it was not like an ordinary Grundo, it looked more akin to a Spyder. Suffice to say, said Grundo was very agile, and proceeded to fire webbing at Desdemona, trapping her in webbing from her chest to her ankles.

"Now I know why so many people are afraid of Spyders." stated Desdemona as the Spider Grundo took her to his spider web.

Unfortunately, due to the fact that the Spider Grundo's webbing was basically made of steel, Desdemona was unable to free herself.

"Well, it looks like I'm done for. Say, I wonder where Dark Faeries go when they die?" wondered our Dark Faerie protagonist.

Soon enough the Spider Grundo came back, and prepared to eat her.

"Just hurry up already!" demanded Desdemona, who had grown impatient during that time.

The Spider Grundo did as the Dark Faerie asked…and suddenly started choking. As it turns out, he had a difficult time swallowing Desdemona's wings, due to the fact that they were somewhat sharp.

"What's going on?" thought the Dark Faerie.

Eventually he passed out from the lack of oxygen reaching his brain and spat out Desdemona, who fell on the floor covered with saliva.

"Yuck! That was not an experience I want to repeat." she spoke.

Suddenly, out of nowhere another Faerie came by. She was wielding a scythe, and was wearing a white dress and had white hair.

"Er, who are you?" asked Desdemona.

"Shouldn't it be obvious? I'm the Faerie of Death. I show up whenever a Neopet or another living being ends up being killed. Depending on the circumstances, I may either turn them into a Ghost Neopet or simply send them to the afterlife." she explained.

"I see…what are you doing here then? In case it's not obvious, I'm still alive." questioned Desdemona.

"That's the problem." the Faerie of Death explained again. "In case it's not obvious, you just cheated me really badly. Do you have any idea how frustrating it is whenever somebody does that?"

"I'm sorry, it's not like I meant to do that." the Dark Faerie apologized.

"I understand that, which I why I decided to let you go this time. However, rest assured that death is not something one should try to toy with. It is a very serious matter." the Faerie of Death told her.

"Mm-hmm. Anyways, could you help me break free from this webbing? It's really sticky." asked the Dark Faerie.

"Alright." agreed the Faerie, who used her scythe to break Desdemona free from her bonds.

"Thank you." thanked Desdemona.

The Faerie of Death then flew away, causing the Dark Faerie to wonder where she was headed.

_Meanwhile at the western part of the Haunted Woods…_

"Iiiii ammmmmm hungryyyyyyy, feeeeedddd mmmmeeee aaaaannnndddd Iiiiii willlllllll rewwwwwaaarrrdddd yoooooooouuuuuuuuuuu…." spoke the Esophagor.

"May I ask why you keep talking like that?" asked Marvin.

"Yeah, it's kind of hard to understand you." agreed Ursula.

"Sooooooooo….youuuuu dooooo nottttt haveeee anyyyyy fooodddd foorrrr meeeee?" asked the Esophagor. "I guessssss yoooou'llllllll haaaaveeee toooooo dooooo aaaaaaaas annnnnnn apppetizzzerr…."

Suddenly, the Esophagor attempted to eat Ursula and Marvin, who narrowly jumped out of the way.

"Cut that out!" demanded the Brain Tree.

The Esophagor turned around and towards the tree with the improbably large and exposed brain.

"You have to forgive him, you see, he always has such an appetite, in fact food is pretty much the only thing that he thinks about. Me, on the other hand...have plenty of things to think about. Like, what are you doing here, for instance?" the Brain Tree asked.

"Is he a friend of yours?" asked Marvin.

"Ah yes, he helps people complete my quests in exchange for food. Suffice to say we get along fairly well." the Brain Tree answered the two of them.

"Why doesn't he try to eat you? As far as I know you can't exactly get away from him." questioned Ursula.

"That's because he doesn't like to eat vegetables." The Brain Tree told him. "He's quite the carnivore."

"Iiiiii aaaaammmmm soooooo hungrrryyy…..Iiiii neeeedddd toooo eaattttt soooonnnn…." the Esophagor complained.

"You wouldn't mind getting him some food, will you? He always gets so upset when he doesn't get food." the Brain Tree told them.

Marvin and Ursula shrugged and decided to do as asked, and gave the Esophagor several haunted foods.

"Tttthaaankkkk youuuu….hereeee is yourrrr rewardddd…" he spoke, giving Marvin and Ursula a trading card.

"You're welcome. Gosh, for a ferocious Neopet eater he's not such a bad guy." Marvin said.

"Anyways, in case you're wondering, we are currently battling Neopets at the Stone Dome if you're interested. I suppose that you probably have other things in mind, however." the Brain Tree informed them.

After saying farewell to the Brain Tree and Esophagor, Marvin and Ursula decided to look for the others. As it turns out, they had finished their respective adventures as well.

"Phew, this place is creepy, huh?" Bloony told the others.

"Guess that's why they call it the Haunted Woods." Cherry agreed.

"It's also filled with monsters…good thing we managed to take care of what we came across." Sheldon told his adventure with Gary.

"Finally! Let me out of here!" cried out Gary.

"Hey, have you seen Desdemona?" Ursula asked.

Pretty soon the Dark Faerie flew by, covered with webbing and spit.

"What happened to you?" questioned Marvin curiously.

"You don't want to know." Desdemona told them.

"Anyways, I suppose we should probably head to Faerieland next. Maybe Queen Fyora can help us." Bloony suggested.

And so our heroes decided to set off to Faerieland, hoping that perhaps the Faerie Queen could give them some answers.

_Meanwhile at the Apocalypse Castle…_

Fallenova looked at her red battle armor, which Lord Cataclysm had given her for the purpose of protecting her while she and her comrades invaded Faerieland.

"It's a shame that I have to attack my former home…I wish that it didn't have to be this way…" Fallenova nodded sadly.

Suddenly, the Black Knight came into the room.

"Are you ready to go? Lord Cataclysm's making preparations as we speak…it seems that he's planning an all-out assault." inquired the Mutant Grundo.

"Oh sure. I'll be ready in a few minutes." replied Fallenova.

As the Black Knight left the room, Fallenova began to wonder how things had gotten this way.

She had recalled how the other faeries had mistreated her due to the fact that she was a Nova Faerie, which was an extremely rare Faerie that appeared only once a century.

Time and time again, the faeries would bully her, despite her repeatedly telling them to stop. Suffice to say, all that she could do was cry in a corner after they had finally finished.

She had even considered packing her bags and leaving Faerieland at one point, but then she figured that she possibly wouldn't receive any acceptance outside of Faerieland either.

She had also considered asking people for assistance, but then she figured that this would aggravate the other faeries that made her life miserable.

Suffice to say, she was about to reach her breaking point, when Lord Cataclysm approached her and asked her if she wanted to be part of his group, the Cult of Apocalypse.

After Fallenova questioned her what the group did, Lord Cataclysm told her that he was trying to make Neopia a better place. Due to the fact that her life had become a misery, she decided to accept.

Lord Cataclysm insisted that her identity as a Faerie should remain hidden, so he had her wear a disguise that even came with a mask that altered her voice.

Along with Professor Nyctus, she had developed a chemical mixed with Faerie Magic that would bring them under Lord Cataclysm and the Cult of Apocalypse's control. She questioned if this truly was the best approach of action for Neopia, but decided that Lord Cataclysm was telling her the truth.

Nowadays everyone knew that she was a Faerie, and wondered if they would start mistreating her again.

Putting on her helmet, she decided that the only way to make Neopia a better place was to destroy the very place she had originated from, and decided that she would go along with Lord Cataclysm and do as he asked.

_Fallenova's backstory is sad, isn't it? In the next chapter, we'll get to see Lord Cataclysm's attack plan…and we'll be introduced to a new character…_


	45. Chapter 45: Welcome to Faerieland

Saving Neopia

_In this chapter, a new character will appear…one that just so happens to be a Light Faerie…however you'll probably get the feeling that there's something up with her…_

**Chapter 45: Welcome to Faerieland**

"So this is Faerieland…it must have been a lot better place before that crazy Xweetok crashed it into the rest of Neopia and ruined everything…I swear, some Neopets can be simply terrible." stated Cherry.

"Why would anyone want to do that to Faeries anyway? Last time I checked they were freaking beautiful." Marvin agreed.

"Are girls all you think about, Marvin?" inquired Ursula.

"Xandra was totally scary! Thanks to her a bunch of shadow minions started appearing all around Neopia! And they started draining them out of their precious life force, too! I had nightmares for weeks! I'm just glad that it's finally over and all the Faeries aren't stone anymore." Gary agreed.

"Funny, didn't the Darkest Faerie statue go missing during the chaos?" Sheldon pointed out.

Gary responded to this by letting out an enormous, earsplitting scream that arguably was heard throughout all of Neopia.

"AARGH! My ears!" Cherry screamed.

"I don't recall you ever having ears." Bloony told her.

"Sheldon, what in Neopia were you thinking?" Marvin asked.

"I'm sorry! How was I supposed to know that this was going to happen?" Sheldon attempted to apologize.

"What did you expect? The Darkest Faerie is the mistress of nightmares! Do you think a crybaby like Gary would react well if he heard what had happened when Fyora cast that spell that turned all the Faeries back to normal?" Ursula berated him.

"You're not much of a forgiver, aren't you." whined Sheldon.

Suddenly, a Light Faerie flew up to them. Apparently, she was one of the many Faeries that had heard what Gary had done.

"Hello, may I ask why you've decided to visit Faerieland and suddenly let out a large scream like that?" the Light Faerie interrogated them.

"Sorry, about that, our friend here doesn't like when he hears about the infamous citizens of Neopia that have rather large entries in the Gallery of Evil." Bloony questioned her.

"Anyways, what brings Neopets like you to this place, anyway? Aside from Faerie Neopets, they don't usually come here like this."

"Yes, I'm not sure what the Neopets Staff had in mind when they decided to create a twisted hybrid like that…anyways, just to let you know, my name is Othella…" she told them as she shook hands with them.

Suddenly, she noticed that there was a Dark Faerie with them. She reacted with annoyance.

"May I ask why a Dark Faerie is with you?" she inquired. Apparently she seemed somewhat irritated.

"Is there anything wrong with that?" Bloony questioned her again.

"Need I remind you that Dark Faeries are minions of the evil one himself?" Othella lectured them.

"Hey!" exclaimed Desdemona.

"That doesn't mean that we shouldn't give her a chance. Last time I checked she hasn't made a move to betray us." Bloony once again reacted to her questions with mild annoyance.

Desdemona nodded at what Bloony had said in her defense.

"Well, just keep that in mind, won't you? Now if you excuse me, I'm going to see Fyora about something that I want to talk about with her."

"Can you take us to her while you're at it? We need to talk to her about something." Ursula asked.

"Well, in case you're curious, her castle is right that way." Othella said as she gave them directions, pointing towards the large castle that just so happened to be not far from them.

"Gosh, you'd think we'd have noticed that sooner." Sheldon murmured Babaaishly.

And so our heroes went towards Faerieland Castle, hoping to be able to obtain an audience with Fyora….

"I just hope that she's not busy right now…given that she's the queen of all the Faeries." wished Cherry.

_Meanwhile at Jelly World…_

"Yum! This stuff tastes delicious!" Rocky squealed with glee.

"What are you eating?" Jennifer asked him curiously.

"I'm eating this jelly we're trapped inside, why." the caveman Mynci exclaimed.

"Why didn't we think of this before?" Snotty realized.

Suffice to say, all the members of the Villains of Darkness (with the exception of Jennifer, due to the fact that she did not want to become obese from eating the entire gelatin) proceeded to eat their way out of their edible prison.

However, when they managed to escape, they realized that they had gone out of the frying pan and into the fire.

"Just where are we?" questioned Snotty, as he began to look around his surroundings.

"We seem to be in a place filled with Jell-O…" Redtooth noted.

"Funny, I've heard about this place. They say that this is the place known as Jelly World…but I thought that place was simply a fairy tale…" Cinder reacted with disbelief.

"Well this is just perfect! How are we supposed to get out of here? I thought that once we finally broke out of our little containment unit we'd be home free. But guess what? Now we're in some place that probably doesn't even exist!" Snotty complained.

"You're right…what are we going to do?" Larry agreed.

"Well, I suppose that we might as well eat some jelly, because I get the feeling that's all that we're going to be having for the rest of our lives!" bellowed Snotty.

"There wouldn't happen to be any Jelly Chias here, would there?" inquired Redtooth. "I get the feeling they would taste particularly delicious…of course I might get my face messy if I tried that…and I don't want that."

"That's beside the point! We are trapped! Trapped forever! There is absolutely no way out of this place! We are doomed! This is our fate! Game over, guys, game over!" screamed Snotty.

Suddenly, they noticed that there seemed to be something flying above their heads.

"What's going on?" wondered Larry. "I certainly hope that this doesn't interfere with my daily nap…"

Suddenly, a giant Pterodactyl swooped down at the Villains of Darkness, and grabbed them all in his mouth, as he began to take them all far away.

"AAH!" the villainous group screamed.

"Rocky thought Pterodactyls only exist in Tyrannia…" he thought.

Was this the end for the Villains of Darkness?

_In the next chapter, our heroes will have an audience for Fyora…and will learn even more information about what they're up against…although at this point they've probably learned everything…_

_Of course, I might also take the time to reveal what exactly happened to our six villains…suffice to say you just might know where they'll end up…_


	46. Chapter 46: Audience with Fyora

Saving Neopia

_In this chapter our heroes will actually get to encounter Queen Fyora…also we'll get to check on how the Villains of Darkness are doing…because of course last time we checked they were in the mouth of a killer pterodactyl…_

**Chapter 46: Audience with Fyora**

After our heroes arrived at Faerieland Castle, they started looking around for Fyora.

"Where are you, Fyora?" called Gary.

Unfortunately, due to the fact that castles had the tendency to be extremely spacious, they had a hard time doing so.

They searched the Endless Staircase (after finally deducing how to get around it)…

They searched the Faerieland Library…

They searched the Hidden Tower (finding the Hidden Tower was difficult itself due to the fact that it was invisible due to the fact none of them had bought a Meowclops)…

But still they could not find Fyora.

"This is hopeless!" cried out Desdemona.

It was highly disappointing to our heroes…who had gone to so much trouble looking for the Faerie Queen so they could talk to her about what was happening to Neopia…

But they had searched everywhere, and so they decided to leave…

Until Marvin pointed out that they hadn't searched the throne room where Fyora usually was.

"D'oh!" exclaimed Bloony.

And so our heroes were forced to drag themselves over to where the throne room was…which would have been far easier if they hadn't exhausted themselves trying so hard to find the Faerie Queen in the first place.

"You think we should have split up to make finding her easier?" inquired Cherry.

"D'oh!" exclaimed Bloony again.

Almost immediately after entering the throne room, our heroes immediately collapsed on the floor, having finally given in to exhaustion.

As it turns out, Fyora was currently speaking to Othella, who was busy talking to her about something.

"Sorry Othella, but I'm not going to boot the Dark Faeries out of Faerieland simply because they have the tendency to use dark magic in order to make twisted deals with other Neopets." Fyora explained to her.

"But Fyora! Haven't they done extremely vulgar things to Neopia in the past?" pointed out Othella.

"Be that as it may, not all Dark Faeries are evil. I'm sorry that you feel that way about them, but I'm not going to kick them out of Faerieland, and that's final."

Othella let out a cry of frustration, and decided to leave Faerieland Palace not long afterwards.

Suddenly, Fyora noticed the Neopets and the Faerie that had collapsed in a pile.

"Oh my goodness! What happened to you?" asked the Faerie Queen.

Bloony opened up his eyes and murmured "We tried looking for you, but we had a horrible amount of luck."

"I'm sorry to hear that. Anyways, you must be desperate if you searched the entirety of my castle for the simple purpose of finding me, so I suppose that you deserve to talk to me." Fyora spoke to them.

After explaining to Queen Fyora what had happened around Neopia as of late, Fyora began speaking to them about the current situation.

Apparently, something had gone wrong with the Faerie Council about a year or two ago, and had given birth to a horrific yet sentient monster that wanted nothing more than to bring pain and suffering to all of Neopia, and had perfected a nasty chemical that combined with Faerie magic could be used to make it into a world of pure evil.

"What kind of villain would want that?" Desdemona wondered.

"Someone who was evil enough to actually want such a thing…basically put they're the last time of person you'd want to meet." Sheldon told her.

She continued on by telling them that said monster decided to call himself Lord Cataclysm, and had recruited many others to join his cause by lying about his true intentions, forming a group known as the Cult of Apocalypse in order to assist him with his plans, and even persuaded a rare type of Faerie to join him as well, one that had been abused and ridiculed by the other faeries.

"Gosh, I feel sorry for that poor Faerie…no wonder she decided to turn to Lord Cataclysm and his minions." sympathized Marvin.

"Anyways, I'm currently working on a way that will allow us to defeat this said monster by invading his lair, but at this moment it's still in development. Naturally, I'd also need available Neopets that were willing to assist me, but unfortunately due to said chemical most of them are either too terrified to help me or have already fallen under the monster's control." Queen Fyora told them the unfortunate news.

"Funny you should mention that, we've been working on trying to free Neopia from his control." explained Ursula.

"Really? Excellent. I believe you are known as the Heroes of Light, correct? Try to free as much of Neopia from the Cult of Apocalypse as you can, will you? Any help you can give me will be appreciated." Fyora requested.

"Anything for a pretty lady." Marvin agreed. Ursula's response to Marvin's constant flirting was to give him a punch to the elbow.

"YEOW!" screamed Marvin.

Not long after the heroes had left, Fyora once again sat on her throne.

"I just hope that good will triumph as usual over evil and that the winds of change won't flow in the latter's favor." worried Fyora.

_Meanwhile above the skies of Neopia…_

"I'm getting dizzy! And my fur is covered with saliva!" screamed Redtooth.

"It's hard taking a nap like this!" shouted Larry.

"Aargh!" bellowed Rocky.

"I refuse to meet an end like this!" Snotty yelled, who suddenly started punching the ancient creature's stomach.

Quickly, the pterodactyl began to feel nauseous, and spat out all six members of the Villains of Darkness.

"Noooo!" screeched Jennifer.

One by one all the villains began to fall from the sky and towards the ground, and were going to meet their doom in a few minutes.

However, the Villains of Darkness had a rare stroke of luck, as they just so happened to plummet in a body of water. Normally this would have still caused them to become pancakes (not unlike the ones that are sold by the Neopets Breadmaster), said water was magical due to the fact that it was flowing from the Healing Springs, meaning that they managed to survive the fall completely unscathed.

"Hooray! We're saved!" squealed Cinder.

Suddenly, they noticed where they had landed.

"Gosh, Rocky heard of this place, we must be in Faerieland!" exclaimed Rocky.

"What are the odds?" questioned Jennifer.

Suddenly, they noticed the Healing Faerie, who was busy selling healing items.

"Perfect! Seeing though she has a tail instead of legs, I get the feeling that she'd fall over if she tried to chase after us." pointed out Snotty.

And so the Villains of Darkness began taking as many of the Healing Faerie's items as they could carry from the Healing Faerie.

"Oh please no!" she begged.

Until they realized that said items were meant for healing Neopets.

"Wait a minute, we can't steal these! If we do that so many innocent Neopets will probably end up dying!" realized Snotty.

"Yeah! If we did such a thing we'd be so evil that not even our fellow villains will hang out with us!" agreed Redtooth.

"It's not like healing items are worth much anyways…unless you include the Jade Scorchstone or stuff like that…" Jennifer concurred.

"Can you forgive us?" Cinder apologized.

"Alright but I get the feeling that you have a prior criminal record and I'll probably have to call the police on you in the near future." forgave the Healing Faerie.

Not long afterwards, the Villains of Darkness began plotting their next move.

"Well, now that we're finally back in business again, what do you propose we do for the next move?" Snotty inquired.

Redtooth responded to this by pulling out a copy of the Neopian Times. "It says here that as of late that a new member has joined the Heroes of Light…"

"Well then, I suppose that we'll have to look for a new member to deal with said member, shall we?" suggested Jennifer.

"That's the problem…it says that the latest member to the Heroes of Light is a Dark Faerie." Redtooth explained.

"What?" the rest of the Villains of Darkness shrieked.

_And it looks like the Villains of Darkness are going to have quite a problem looking for their last member…what kind of Light Faerie would want to team up with them? But I suppose that will be revealed in a later chapter…_


	47. Chapter 47: Taking A Day Off

Saving Neopia

_In this chapter, we'll get to see how the Cult of Apocalypse are going to prepare for the war….and what the Heroes of Light are up to now that they know everything about the Cult of Apocalypse…_

**Chapter 47: Taking A Day Off**

The Cult of Apocalypse were preparing for battle, with the Black Knight ordering his troops.

He had recovered surprisingly well from his beating received by Lord Cataclysm, and was instructing them as they prepared to invade Faerieland.

"As you can see men, there will be lots of Faeries surrounding the place. Bear in mind that they are all magic users, so we should prepare ourselves for anything. In addition, our adversaries are capable of flight, meaning that we will have a hard time hitting them with our melee weapons." instructed the Black Knight.

The Cult of Apocalypse groaned in disappointment. Assaulting Faerieland would not be easy.

"Unfortunately, Faerieland has quite the population, meaning that we also do not have the advantage of strength in numbers. However, we have the advantage of having battleships at our side, meaning that we can shoot our enemies out of the sky."

The Cult of Apocalypse cheered that they had advanced technology they could use against the Faeries.

"These battleships were designed by Professor Nyctus, so take caution in using them-"

Suddenly, the mad doctor came into the room.

"Well, speak of the Pant Devil." thought The Black Knight.

"Excuse me, but would you allow me to take some of your Neopets with me for a moment?" he asked.

"What exactly do you want with them?" inquired the Mutant Grundo.

The intelligent yet crazy Korbat said that he wanted to take them to his laboratory in order to test a new chemical he had developed to assist them in the battle against Faerieland.

"Are you sure you should be experimenting on other Neopets? I can't say that I approve of that." the Mutant Grundo asked him.

"Lord Cataclysm said that my research would help Neopia just as it had helped the Cult of Apocalypse." Professor Nyctus told him.

"Why does that not surprise me?" the Cult of Apocalypse general thought.

Due to the fact that the doctor stated that this would assist them in the war effort, the Black Knight decided to agree with Professor Nyctus's demands.

The deranged Korbat and the troops came by a short while later, however they looked slightly different than normal.

To be more specific, they were several feet taller.

"Er, what exactly did you do with them?" the Grundo asked.

"What else? I figured if they were taller they would be more resistant to damage, so I decided to go along with it." Professor Nyctus told the Black Knight.

A short while later, the Cult of Apocalypse general decided to change his battle plan.

"Alright, change of plans. The soldiers that have been enlarged by Professor Nyctus will directly attack Faerieland Castle, while the other troops will make sure that none of the Faeries will assist Fyora against them." the Black Knight explained.

As he began telling his troops of how he planned to invade Faerieland, he began to wonder how he had joined the Cult of Apocalypse in the first place.

He recalled how he had once been a normal Grundo, however he had been given a mutant potion by Dr. Sloth, causing him to develop bulging muscles.

However, something was a bit awry with that potion, and he ended up being the weakest Mutant Grundo among his fellow Mutant Grundos.

Suffice to say, this had caused him to be bullied and ridiculed, and this started to have a negative impact on him.

Just as he was about to look for a paintbrush that would turn him into a different Grundo so that he wouldn't have to deal with this humilation, Lord Cataclysm came and offered him a position as one of the members of the Cult of Apocalypse.

Giving him a suit of armor that was able to resist most attacks, as well as a sword that could shapeshift, he became one of his strongest minions, so much that he was given a high position of authority comparable to Professor Nyctus and Shuriken but lower than Fallenova, who was overall stronger than him.

He found it somewhat embarrassing at times that he was surpassed by a girl, but he decided not to question this fact. Besides, he thought that Fallenova was the most beautiful thing that he had ever seen. Of course, he had only discovered that she was a Faerie rather recently, and wondered why Lord Cataclysm decided to hide this fact from his other minions.

In the meantime, he wondered if they would succeed in the war effort against Faerieland. He heard that Fyora was one of the strongest beings in Neopia, and wondered if Lord Cataclysm would stand a chance against her. In order to win the war, they would have to take her down. After all, magicians such as her didn't merely engage their opponents; they altered the course of entire battles.

"I just hope that the battle will turn out in our favor." thought the Black Knight.

_Meanwhile in Faerieland…_

For once, our heroes were finally able to take a break from fighting various monsters, much to the relief.

Marvin was enjoying himself most, mainly due to the fact that Faerieland was filled with pretty girls. Naturally, this meant that Ursula would have to keep an eye from him.

"Good grief Marvin, can't you focus on something other than a Faerie for a change?" Ursula questioned him.

"Sorry!" Marvin apologized.

Gary had an encounter with Jhudora, who scared the dung out of him. He recalled that she was Illusen's arch-enemy, and wondered what she had ever done to her.

The purple Grarrl found himself more comfortable with the Library Faerie, due to the fact how quiet she was. Bloony himself was also visiting the Library Faerie, due to the fact that he wanted to read a book. Unfortunately, it disappeared into smoke as soon as he finished it.

"Why are books in Neopia designed like this?" wondered Bloony, who left the library shortly afterwards.

Desdemona on the other hand was doing quests for her, due to the fact that Jhudora had stated she would get rewards if she kept on helping her. In this case, she received a poisonous lollipop.

"This lollipop tastes amazing!" she stated as she started eating it.

Sheldon was busy placing bets on several Poogles, wondering if they were capable of outrunning even her

After he had finally stopped trying to hang out with the pretty Faeries, Marvin revealed to Bloony that he had built a Petpet for himself, due to the fact most of the other members of his team had one at this point. In his case, he had built a GX-4 Oscillabot.

"Hey Bloony! Look what I made!" he stated.

"Gosh Marvin, you certainly are experienced with technology." Bloony congratulated him.

"Look what else he does!" he told him, pressing a button on its back.

"What is your command, master?" the robot inquired.

Suddenly, Bloony received a Neomail from a Neopets postman.

"Hmm, that's interesting. You know that Light Faerie we met earlier? Apparently she wants to see me alone for something. I'm not exactly sure what though; she stated that it was a surprise." Bloony told him as he read the contents of the letter.

"Oh. Well I suppose I'll be seeing you in the near future then." Marvin said as he gave him farewell.

Bloony decided to say goodbye to Cherry before he went, knowing that she would probably miss him the most.

As it turns out, she was busy eating Faerie Bubbles, and had various flavors of them all over her face.

"Use a napkin, please!" the yellow Blumaroo asked.

"Whoops!" Cherry exclaimed, as she began wiping her face.

"Anyways, Othella wants to see me for something. I should be back soon." Bloony told her.

"Alright, have fun!" exclaimed Cherry.

And so Bloony went over to see what exactly the somewhat unstable Light Faerie wanted with him.

"I hope it's not something involving getting rid of Dark Faeries…" Bloony thought.

_This chapter ends with somewhat of a cliffhanger…what exactly could Othella want with Bloony? She is a Light Faerie so she should have good intentions…_

_Right?_


	48. Chapter 48: True Colors

Saving Neopia

_In this chapter, we'll get to see what exactly Othella wants with Bloony…and unfortunately that is where things will start to go downhill…_

_I swear, this is possibly the longest chapter I've created yet…_

**Chapter 48: True Colors**

Bloony approached the Faerie building that Othella had given him directions to. He noticed that it was on the outskirts of Faerieland, and started to get suspicious.

"I'm a little scared now." Bloony thought.

Bloony searched the building, looking for Othella…

…and found her sitting on a chair, petting an Angelpuss.

"Greetings yellow Blumaroo. It is so nice that you decided to visit me…" Othella told him.

Bloony decided that it would be calming to pet the Angelpuss, and asked the Light Faerie if he could so. As soon as he tried to do so however, the white Petpet bit him in the finger.

"Ouch!" cried out Bloony.

"Sorry about that, he's always been a little vicious." Othella explained.

A short while later, Othella directed Bloony towards a strange-looking machine that was standing in the middle of the room.

"May I ask what that's doing there?" Bloony inquired.

"Well you see, my dear friend, this is something that I've been working on for quite some time." Othella told him.

"If you told me you were building a machine, I could have probably gotten my buddy Marvin to help you." Bloony told him.

"Ah yes, I saw him looking at me and my tight yellow dress…he certainly is fond of Faeries, isn't he?" Othella pointed out to him.

"That's one thing I noticed about him." Bloony agreed.

"Anyways, I recall you saying that you're the leader of the Heroes of Light, are you not? I've heard many things about you. Apparently time and time again you've stopped the Cult of Apocalypse from succeeding in their plans. I happen to admire you for that." Othella told them.

"Er, thank you?" Bloony replied.

"Anyways, you've heard of the Defenders of Neopia, have you not? You know, that group of superheroes that also work in order to keep Neopia safe? Nowadays they're busy occupied with preventing the Cult of Apocalypse from spreading as well…" Othella continued to explain.

"I see…so where exactly are you going with this? I believe that it involves the machine over there…" asked Bloony.

"Well, that's where you come in! You see, I've created a machine that gives whoever steps inside of it superpowers…I believe that it would be quite helpful for you…" the Light Faerie told him.

"I'm not sure about that, they say that superpowers come with responsibility…what if I make a mistake and ruin things for everyone?" Bloony worried.

"I'm sure that you'll be just fine." Othella assured him.

"I'm also not sure how my friends will react to all this…will they treat me the same? I'm also not sure how exactly I would look in a superhero costume…generally Neopets don't even wear clothes…" Bloony continued to explain his concerns.

"Not to worry…I plan on having your friends go through with this as well." the Light Faerie attempted to soothe him.

"Wait, what?" exclaimed Bloony.

"Anyways, the sooner we do this, the better it will be for all of Neopia. So let's do this, shall we?" Othella demanded.

Bloony looked at the machine and noticed that there were several stickers on it saying discouraging things such as high voltage, radiation, inflammation, and toxic gases….in general using the machine sounded like it would be extremely dangerous.

"You could kill me with this!" screamed Bloony.

"I assure you it's all worth it, Blumaroo, it's all worth it…" Othella explained.

"No way! This is nuts! I'm sorry Othella, but I simply can't go through with this! If this machine puts an end to me, then what will my teammates do? Not only will they be one Neopet short, but surely they'd all mourn my death and have a big funeral for me…Cherry will probably be hurt the most, seeing though she seems to like me a whole lot…" refused Bloony.

At this point, Othella stopped trying to reason with Bloony.

"I see that you're not going to go through with this willingly…" Othella murmured.

"I'm afraid not. Now if you excuse me I'll be on my w-"

Suddenly, Othella shot lightning at Bloony, electrocuting him.

"Yeow! What was that for?" questioned Bloony.

Suddenly, he noticed that his muscles had strangely ceased functioning.

"What did you just do?" Bloony demanded to know.

"Well, clearly you needed some persuasion… let's get on with this, shall we?" Othella told Bloony as she started dragging him towards the machine.

"Noooo!" screeched the yellow Blumaroo, horrified at what the well-intentioned yet psychopath Light Faerie was about to do.

_Meanwhile back in Faerieland…_

"That's weird, Bloony hasn't come back yet. He said that he would be back in just a minute." Cherry wondered. "Where could he have hopped off too?"

Marvin, Ursula, Gary, and Sheldon came in the room shortly afterwards. As it turns out, they were concerned about Bloony's whereabouts as well.

"What could have happened to him?" they all wondered.

Suddenly, Desdemona flew in the room, with a frightened look in the face. "Everyone, Bloony's in trouble!" she exclaimed.

"What makes you so sure?" inquired Marvin.

Desdemona proceed to explain that one of the abilities that came with being a Dark Faerie was that she could sense whenever misfortune had befell someone…and that misfortune had befallen Bloony.

"Oh no! What could have happened to him?" worried Ursula.

Desdemona told the others where Bloony was currently located, as so they headed off to where Othella was about to attempt her harebrained scheme.

Unfortunately, Othella had locked the door. It seemed that she didn't want anybody to disturb her while she was busy.

"What do we do?" asked Sheldon.

Suddenly, Desdemona noticed that the window was open, and flew inside.

She saw Bloony being forced inside a strange-looking machine by Othella, and wondered what exactly she could be up to.

Immediately, Othella noticed her presence, and snarled with rage.

"You-you came to ruin my plans, didn't you! I always knew that your kind was always evil…" Othella bellowed.

"What?" shouted Desdemona.

Suddenly, Othella dropped Bloony on the floor and shot lightning at Desdemona, who just narrowly dodged.

"What's the matter with you?" Desdemona asked her.

"Be careful! She is dangerous!" warned Bloony.

And so the two Faeries got in a fight as Othella flew up in the air to combat Desdemona, with both of them using light and dark magic respectively against each other.

"I wonder where the others are." wondered Bloony, as he started to regain control of his muscles.

The battle itself was quite intense, with various pieces of furniture being turned over. It was a miracle that none of their attacks managed to damage the superhero-creating machine in the process.

"Give it up, Dark Faerie! Good always prevails over evil!" Othella taunted.

"Who says that I'm evil?" Desdemona replied, launching a ball of dark magic at Othella and knocking her out of the sky.

"You'll pay for that!" exclaimed Othella, who responded by launching more lightning at Desdemona.

The battle raged on and on, until finally Bloony had completely recovered from Othella's paralyzing lightning. Noticing that his comrades were outside, he proceeded to unlock the door and allowed the others to get in.

"What's going on?" asked Cherry.

"There's no time to explain! We have to alert the Faerieland authorities!" Bloony told her.

Marvin thankfully had brought a phone with him, and proceeded to dial 911, telling them that there was a crazy Faerie on the loose.

The Faerieland Police came by not long afterwards; ready to arrest the troublemaking Faerie.

Unfortunately, they could not tell which Faerie had caused the trouble.

"She started it!" both of them stated, pointing fingers at each other.

Unfortunately, due to the fact that one of them was a Dark Faerie, the Faerieland Police moved towards Desdemona…

…when suddenly Fyora came in the building, with a look of discontent on her face.

"Othella, I understood that you desired to assist the Heroes of Light and wanted to remove the Dark Faeries from Faerieland, but I didn't think that you would go this far." Fyora told her.

"I can explain!" Othella attempted to apologize.

"I don't need an explanation. Othella, what you were about to do with that Neopet was extremely dangerous. Do you realize what you could have done? And there was absolutely no reason for you to assault the Dark Faerie." Fyora berated her.

"But-" Othella was suddenly interrupted when the Faerieland Police arrested Othella on Fyora's behalf.

"Hopefully spending some time in prison will cause you to think upon your actions." Fyora told her, as the Faerieland Police took Othella away, surprised that a Light Faerie could turn to the dark side.

The Heroes of Light thanked Fyora for her assistance a few minutes later.

"I swear, today was even crazier than that day we decided to allow a Dark Faerie into our group." Bloony told her.

"Yes, I already told her that Dark Faeries were not always evil…unfortunately I suppose this also means that Light Faeries are not always good…" Fyora told him.

Suddenly, a Faerie messenger came towards Fyora.

"Yes, what is it now?" Fyora asked.

The Faerie Messenger told her that the Cult of Apocalypse was planning to attack Faerieland.

"Oh dear, this is not good at all." Fyora spoke in response.

"What's the matter?" asked Gary.

"First of all, I suggest that you should leave Faerieland if you want to be safe. Something horrible is about to happen." notified Fyora.

"Is it the Cult of Apocalypse again? We should be ready for them." Sheldon spoke.

Gary broke down in tears.

"Well if you insist on remaining in Faerieland and helping to stop the invaders, I suggest that you get prepared." Fyora suggested, who proceeded to beckon them towards the Hidden Tower.

"Today's going to be a long day." thought Bloony.

_Elsewhere in Faerieland…_

Othella snarled in rage. Why did Fyora have her arrested? Clearly she hadn't done anything wrong, at least in her mind.

Suddenly she recalled how Bloony was unwilling to become a superhero. Why would he not want to be a superhero? Unless…

That was the answer! As it turns out, the Heroes of Light were not actually heroes at all…they were simply pretending to be heroes so that they could manipulate others to do whatever they wanted…and were doing so with Fyora…

They had gotten her arrested due to the fact that they believed she knew too much…

Oh, if only there was somebody that could save her from being hauled off to prison…

As it turns out, there was somebody that could do so…

"I give up! There is absolutely no Light Faerie in Faerieland that wants to join us! I knew that they were all a bunch of goody-goodies!" bellowed Snotty.

"What about that one over there? It looks like she's been arrested!" pointed Redtooth.

"What?" Snotty looked at where Redtooth was pointing. As it turns out, what he had said was entirely true.

"Rocky don't believe it!" exclaimed the caveman Mynci.

"Me neither!" agreed Jennifer.

"Looks like we've finally succeeded!" cheered Cinder.

"Zzz…" snored Larry.

The Villains of Darkness proceeded to knock out the Faerieland Police brigade, and released Othella from her handcuffs.

"Thank you for assisting me…now I can tell the world that the Heroes of Light are not the heroes that they claim to be…" Othella showed gratitude.

"Funny you should mention that, the Heroes of Light have always given us a hard time…they made me peel my fur out more times that I can remember!" agreed Snotty.

The Villains of Darkness proceeded to ask Othella if she wished to join the Villains of Darkness…

And Othella accepted, looking forward to bring the Heroes of Light to justice.

_Oh no! It looks like the Heroes of Light haven't seen the last of Othella…she's teamed up with the Villains of Darkness in order to take them down!_

_And worse still, it looks like the Cult of Apocalypse are going to be invading Faerieland pretty soon…is there anything the Heroes of Light can do to stop them…_

_More will be revealed in the next chapter…_


	49. Chapter 49: Calm Before The Storm

Saving Neopia

**Chapter 49: Calm Before The Storm**

Fallenova approached her master, Lord Cataclysm, who was eagerly overseeing the progress of the large army that had been assembled. Preparations were complete to attack Faerieland.

"Master, why do you insist on invading Faerieland? Is there any reason aside from the fact that resistance is being rallied there?" asked Fallenova.

"Well if you must know, there's a prophecy that states that there are seven heroes that would put an end to me…I believe I already know who they are at this point." Lord Cataclysm explained.

"I see…" answered Fallenova.

"However there's another prophecy even more troublesome…it says that a Faerie would ultimately put an end to me…I believe that Fyora may possibly be the Faerie of the prophecy due to the fact how powerful she is, which is why I am taking action against her." continued Lord Cataclysm.

"I see…that's horrible. I suppose this is the only method we can take." agreed Fallenova.

Lord Cataclysm stared off into the distance where Faerieland Castle was located.

"Soon Fyora…you will be defeated, and then nobody will be able to stop me…"

_Meanwhile at Faerieland…_

The Heroes of Light looked around them, and saw that there were several faeries preparing for battle alongside them. Apparently, Fyora had informed every important Faerie in Neopia about the situation due to how dangerous the Cult of Apocalypse could be.

"Wow, look at all the faeries…" stated Cherry.

"This is the best day ever!" squealed Marvin.

Ursula once again punched Marvin in the elbow.

"YEOW!" screamed the green Mynci.

"Attention everyone. As we know right now we are in dire straits. An army of Neopets are heading this way, and they desire to attack all of Faerieland. It is for this reason I have called you all together in order to combat this threat." Fyora explained to them.

Bloony looked around them and saw several Faeries that he recognized, such as Illusen, Jhudora, and the Snow Faerie. He also saw the Battle Faerie, who was apparently well-prepared for such an occasion.

"Anyways, due to the fact that the Heroes of Light have decided to assist us in helping us combat this threat, I'm giving them all special powers to help protect themselves." Fyora stated.

Suddenly, all of the Heroes of Light started to feel different. They wondered what had happened to them.

"What just happened?" wondered Bloony.

"I don't know, but I feel stronger now." noted Sheldon.

Bloony was the first one to notice the powers that Fyora had given him when he suddenly started lifting a nearby bookcase.

"Whoa! Fyora sure is generous…" thought Bloony.

Cherry was next to notice her new abilities, when she suddenly created a copy of herself.

"How are you doing?" the clone asked her.

"I've been cloned!" screamed Cherry.

Marvin noticed that he now had the ability to walk on walls, and could shoot vines out of his hands.

"Gnarly!" he exclaimed.

Ursula now not only had her super strength, but now she could also perform martial arts to defend herself.

"Maybe I could use them on Marvin if he tries to flirt with faeries again…" wondered Ursula.

Gary could now turn invisible, which was highly effective with hiding from his enemies.

"Finally! Now I don't have to worry about any of my adversaries hurting me…" stated Gary.

Sheldon was now capable of phasing through solid matter, which effectively removed one of his weaknesses…which in his case was being cornered.

"Alright!" cried out Sheldon.

Desdemona was not given any new powers interestingly, but instead she was given a Wand of Darknova that she could to amplify her magic abilities. And she could freely summon it at any time.

"How convenient." thought Desdemona.

After all seven heroes had finished tested out their new abilities, Fyora told them that she would also be giving them some armor and a weapon of their choice to assist them during the war.

Bloony chose a Sunshine Shield, as well as a Sword of Thigl.

Cherry chose a pair of armored gloves, and an Obsidian Dagger.

Marvin chose a pair of jet boots, and an Ultra Bubble Gun.

Ursula chose a chainmail, and a pair of fisticuffs.

Gary chose a helmet, and Glowing Battle Dung.

Sheldon chose a pair of platelegs, and Twin Faerie Swords

Desdemona chose a Wand of the Dark Faerie, and some robes.

After the Heroes of Light were ready for battle, they decided to go to the lookout post, making sure they were ready when the Cult of Apocalypse arrived.

_Elsewhere in Faerieland…_

"So let me get this straight, you have a machine that can give us superpowers?" inquired Snotty.

"Yes I do, why?" answered Othella.

"You've got to use this on us! It'll allow us to finally get revenge on the Heroes of Light!" demanded Snotty.

"Alright, if you say so." agreed the Light Faerie.

After Othella had shown them her estate, Snotty immediately went inside the machine. Unlike Bloony, he ignored the various danger stickers placed on it, and ordered Othella to flip the switch.

Immediately, Snotty felt a lot of pain as the various side-effects of the superpower-inducing machine kicked in, and was sent flying out of the machine, clutching his arms.

"That really hurt! And it probably didn't even give me superpowers anyway…" complained Snotty.

Suddenly, Snotty extended his arm and it hit the wall, much to his surprise.

"Interesting, it seems that now I can extend my arms over great distances…score!" he exclaimed.

Redtooth was next, as he stepped into the machine. He came back out, coughing heavily.

"What's wrong?" his teammates asked.

Immediately, Redtooth realized that he could now poison his enemies using his claws.

"This should hopefully impair my enemies…such as Cherry in particular." Redtooth thought.

As soon as Rocky went into the machine, he was immediately pelted with several stones.

"Ouch! Ooh! Ow! Eek!" the caveman Rocky explained.

Not long afterwards, he came back out…but there was something different about him. Apparently, Rocky could now turn himself into stone!

"Alright!" exclaimed Rocky.

Jennifer went inside…and suddenly started feeling very dizzy.

"Aargh! My head!" screamed Jennifer.

As soon as she came back, she noticed that Rocky (who was right in front of her) was suddenly feeling tired.

Unfortunately, Jennifer was now capable of hypnotizing others into doing her bidding.

"You are getting very sleepy…" taunted Jennifer.

Cinder went inside the machine afterwards, and he immediately spontaneously combusted.

"Ouch! Hot hot hot!" screeched Cinder.

As soon as he came out, the fiery Tonu realized that he could now control fire.

"Let's see if the Heroes of Light can take the heat, shall we?" taunted Cinder.

Larry stepped inside the machine. Unlike the others, he did not feel much pain due to the fact that he had already fallen asleep.

As soon as he came out, he noticed that he now…had enhanced healing abilities.

"Aw, man!" complained the Moehog.

Unlike the others, Othella decided not to use the machine herself, instead choosing to take a Wand of Lightnova out of her bag.

"What else is in there?" inquired Snotty.

Othella explained that she had gotten the bag from the Hidden Tower from Fyora, hoping that she could use it to help other Neopets.

Snotty chose a sword of Skardsen and a Hubrid Nox Shield.

Redtooth chose armored gloves…and didn't choose a weapon due to the fact that he did not need one.

Rocky chose Asparachucks and a helmet.

Jennifer chose some Werelupe Claws and a chainmail.

Cinder chose a Portable Kiln and a suit of armor.

Larry fell asleep while waiting for the others to finish, so the Villains of Darkness chose for him by giving him some horseshoes and Magical Marbles of Mystery.

Othella chose a Faerie Tabard and Illusen's Staff.

After they were all done, the Villains of Darkness thought about their next plan to attack the Heroes of Light.

"Well, first of all, we'll need to find them, I'm sure that they're still in Faerieland." commented Snotty.

Jennifer pulled out her magic mirror, which showed them the entirety of Faerieland.

Suddenly, they noticed that there seemed to be an army nearby marching towards it.

"Oh brother, it looks like there's going to be intense conflict pretty soon." worried Redtooth.

"Who win war?" wondered Rocky.

"Maybe we should go elsewhere and view it from a safe distance?" suggested Jennifer.

"Sounds good for now." agreed Larry.

"It's a shame, I was looking forward to fighting the Heroes of Light again." Cinder complained.

"Presto…kavakia…alakazam!" chanted Othella, who teleported them to a different location.

_In the next chapter, the Heroes of Light will participate in the Battle for Faerieland…who will win the war set up by the Cult of Apocalypse?_


	50. Chapter 50: Start of the War

Saving Neopia

_This is the part you've all been waiting for, am I correct? In this chapter the battle between Queen Fyora and Lord Cataclysm will begin…and naturally the Heroes of Light will be helping Fyora defeat the cult…_

**Chapter 50: Start of the War**

The Heroes of Light stood at a lookout post, looking for any sign of the enemy.

Soon enough the Cult of Apocalypse arrived, all of them marching straight towards Faerieland's entrance.

But before they actually entered Faerieland and began the battle, Lord Cataclysm prepared a speech.

"Attention citizens of Faerieland. As you all know, I am about to attack Faerieland. It is something that you brought upon yourselves, really, due to the fact that some of you created me from scratch thanks to your own feeble squabbles." Lord Cataclysm spoke.

Bloony and the other members looked at Lord Cataclysm in astonishment. Was that really him in the flesh?

"Do not attempt to resist, I will conquer Faerieland no matter how much it costs. To be honest with you, the only Faerie I really want is Fyora. If you step aside and allow me to crush her to the ground, then we can avoid this conflict. If you decide to help her however, then prepare for your end." Lord Cataclysm continued.

"Without further ado, let the battle begin!"

Immediately as soon as their master made the signal, the Cult of Apocalypse started marching towards Faerieland. All of the Faeries that had chosen to fight back rushed to defend themselves from the onslaught.

Suffice to say, the Faeries and Cult of Apocalypse were equally matched. While there were many Faeries to deal with all of the invading evildoers, the cult also had nasty tricks up their sleeve.

Suddenly, several of them grew large and started crushing the Faeries that were fighting them underfoot, and started marching straight towards Faerieland Castle, crushing everything in their path.

Naturally, this did not go unnoticed by our heroes.

"We've got to do something!" demanded Cherry.

"I suppose we must. Heroes of Light, let's roll!" ordered Bloony.

And so our heroes prepared to fight the Cult of Apocalypse, each of them using their newfound powers and weapons to fight them off.

They also had help from the Faeries, who would swarm the cult members they were currently fighting against.

Overall, they were doing very well, as they started toppling the giants that were overwhelming the Faeries that tried to stop them.

"How did they get so big?" wondered Marvin.

"Probably the work of the mad doctor…" Ursula suggested.

"I want my mommy!" screamed Gary.

"Don't we all?" replied Sheldon sarcastically.

Desdemona laughed inside as she transformed one of the giants into a Mortog.

The famous Faeries in Neopia were lending them a hand as well, and it was thanks to them that they were able to prevent the Cult of Apocalypse from storming the castle.

It appeared that Faerieland was winning the war against the Cult of Apocalypse…

But one question remained in the Heroes of Lights' minds…

Where exactly did Lord Cataclysm go? None of our heroes could spot him among the various fighters. He had suddenly disappeared almost as soon as the war had begun. What was he up to?

_Meanwhile near the Hidden Tower…_

Lord Cataclysm laughed to himself. While the Faeries were busy fighting his minions and trying to prevent them from overrunning the city, he had snuck away from the crowd and headed straight towards the Hidden Tower, where he had the feeling that Fyora was hiding. Judging from what he could tell, none of the Faeries had even noticed this.

He had transformed into a flying Noil in order to approach the tower in the first place, which was distinguishable from an ordinary one due to its black mane and wings, in addition to its glowing eyes and grey skin.

Fallenova had travelled with him as well, and was currently carrying the Black Knight, albeit with some difficulty. She was wearing a red suit of armor similar to her Mutant Grundo partner.

"Please don't drop me, Fallenova! I'm scared!" screamed the Black Knight, clearly aware of the fact that he was many feet above the ground.

"Relax, I'm not going to drop you, you're just a little heavy." replied the powerful Faerie.

Pretty soon they were at their destination. Initially, Fallenova and the Black Knight were confused why they had suddenly stopped. There didn't appear to be anything there, but Lord Cataclysm stopped nonetheless.

"I don't get it, why did you suddenly stop?" asked the Black Knight curiously.

"This my ally, is where Fyora has locked herself away. Unfortunately for her, she won't be able to hide from me in order to escape my wrath."

Suddenly, Lord Cataclysm punched through the wall using one of his paws, creating a hole for him and his two elite minions to crawl through.

"Wow!" exclaimed the Black Knight.

"Guess there was something there." Fallenova murmured.

Immediately, many members of Fyora's Royal Guard noticed him, and started charging towards him with their spears. Lord Cataclysm responded by letting out a tremendous roar that sended them all flying across the room, knocking most of them out cold and causing the rest to flee.

The shapeshifting dark lord turned back to his normal form afterwards, looking around for Fyora's hiding place.

"Foolish Neopets, believing that they stand a chance against me. And to think they're doing all of this simply so they can save the queen that is so precious to them…I cannot say that I sympathize with them…." spoke Lord Cataclysm.

Fallenova and the Black Knight served as his bodyguards, making sure that he wouldn't be injured in the event that one or more of Fyora's allies attacked him.

At this point, the two of them started thinking about how sinister their leader was…

Of course, they also wondered where Shuriken and Professor Nyctus were…as it turns out they had not gone with them to invade the Hidden Tower.

What exactly were they planning?

_Elsewhere in the Faerieland Palace…_

Shuriken was busy planting explosives inside of the castle, taking care not to be noticed by any of the guards that were situated throughout the castle. No doubt that they were trying to defend the castle from intruders.

In the event that any of them spotted him, he would simply throw a smoke bomb so that he could escape elsewhere.

Overall, he had planted quite a bit of explosives, and wondered if he would get the chance to detonate them.

"Whenever Lord Cataclysm tells me I suppose." he thought.

_At the Cult of Apocalypse laboratory…_

"Can I come with you?" asked Steven.

"No. You stay here and look after the lab! I'm going to take care of the Heroes of Light myself…" ordered Professor Nyctus.

"Aww…" complained the mad doctor's assistant.

He had prepared this robot specifically for the purpose of defeating the heroes, and could only hope that it would succeed.

Naturally, he had made it quite a powerhouse. In fact, it was even capable of flight, which he used to exit the castle.

He just hoped that he wasn't too late and that the battle wasn't already over, otherwise the time he had spent building the robot would be wasted.

Nonetheless, he was looking forward to getting even with the Heroes of Light, recalling the fateful day when he was defeated and humiliated by them, and a short while later when Lord Cataclysm punished him severely for his failure.

"Let's see them get past this, shall we?" he taunted.

_Professor Nyctus is out for blood…will our heroes' second battle with him turn out as well as their first battle? Or will the winds of change flow in the twisted doctor's direction?_

_These questions will be revealed in the next chapter…which will hopefully come soon!_


	51. Chapter 51: Familiar Adversary

Saving Neopia

_In this chapter, our heroes will go up against Professor Nyctus once again…this time he'll be attacking them with a giant robot instead of a battleship…who do you think will win the battle?_

**Chapter 51: Familiar Adversary**

The Heroes of Light were fighting the many Cult of Apocalypse members they were trying to attack Faerieland.

There were so many of them…

Which suffice to say, made our heroes glad that they got new abilities and weapons recently.

Suddenly, they heard stomping noises.

"Um, Bloony, what was that?" Cherry asked curiously.

"I don't think it's anything good." worried Bloony.

"Hahahahaha!" laughed Professor Nyctus. "So good to finally be able to face you heroes again!"

"Oh no…" thought Marvin.

"He's got a giant robot!" screamed Ursula.

"I want my mommy!" shrieked Gary.

"At least I'll be able to outrun it since it's so slow…" stated Sheldon optimistically.

"Magic vs. Science…I wonder who will win?" wondered Desdemona.

"Lord Cataclysm wasn't happy with me when he found out about what had happened during that fiasco that occurred in Neopia Central. He gave me quite a beating…suffice to say I'll have to return that favor." the mad doctor told our heroes.

"We're not going to let you win this time!" Bloony retaliated.

"I'm sure you will once you see what this robot can do." taunted Professor Nyctus, who proceeded to fire several rockets at our heroes.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Cherry, as the heroes dove out of their way.

"Ah yes, these rockets don't seem to be particularly accurate…let's try the laser beam, shall we?" suggested the crazed Korbat, firing an enormous laser beam at our heroes.

This time, one of the heroes was hit by the laser beam. In this case, it was Marvin, who had a large amount of his fur burnt off thanks to the power of the state-of-the-art weapon.

"Aargh!" screamed Marvin, who subsequently started trying to cover himself in embarrassment.

Professor Nyctus laughed, and decided to fire more rockets at our heroes, this time making sure that they were heat-seeking so that the Heroes of Light couldn't dodge them so easily.

However, Ursula proceeded to toss one of them at the robot, which proceeded to damage its hull.

"Ergh! How dare you! I'm going to make you pay for that!" bellowed the professor. Pressing a button, a bunch of weapons popped out of the robot, such as a circular saw, a sword, an axe, and peculiarly a wrench.

"What are we going to do?" asked Cherry.

"I suggest we try to destroy those before that robot can do us any more harm." plotted Bloony.

After dodging the weapons the robot used against them for a while, the Heroes of Light proceeded to take action against the doctor.

Gary turned invisible so that Professor Nyctus couldn't see him and bit off the wrench, causing it to fall on the floor.

Marvin fired a rocket at the sword recalling how the robot had been vulnerable to its own explosives, causing it to shatter into pieces.

Sheldon broke the circular saw while it wasn't spinning, punching it so many times that it was dented beyond repair.

Bloony used his telekinesis to toss a building (hoping that there weren't any faeries inside of it) straight at the axe, causing it to break as well.

Cherry created a few copies of herself and used them to climb to the top of the robot, breaking the glass that was encasing the mad doctor and leaving him vulnerable.

"That does it! No more games! I'm going to take you down once and for all whether you like it or not!" screeched Professor Nyctus.

He proceeded to jump straight into the air, knocking Ursula and Marvin out cold.

"Guess I'll have to take action now." spoke Desdemona, causing chains to wrap around the robot's legs and prevent it from moving.

"Why won't this thing work? And why aren't those heroes defeated yet?" inquired the psychopath as he attempted to make the robot move forward without any success.

Finally, the remaining Heroes of Light got together and started hacking away at the robot with everything they got, doing severe damage. One of these attacks even hit the Korbat in the face.

"No! My robot is on the ropes! How could this be happening?" thought the crazy doctor.

Launching one last attack at our heroes, the robot proceeded to punch Desdemona with its fist, causing her to be knocked out as well.

"This robot is even stronger than the Black Knight…" thought Sheldon.

But still our heroes kept on fighting the robot despite the state of roughly half their teammates. Pretty soon the robot was on fire and was short-circuiting.

"Aargh! It looks like I'm going to have to retreat again..." complained Professor Nyctus, asking himself what Lord Cataclysm would do to him this time.

The doctor left the control panel and went inside a nearby escape pod, and started heading back towards Apocalypse Castle.

"Farewell Heroes of Light! We'll be seeing each other in the near f-"

Professor Nyctus was suddenly interrupted when the robot collapsed on top of the escape pod, causing it to explode and sending the doctor flying into space.

"Aaah! How could I have been defeated twice in a row by a bunch of Neopets that shouldn't have even stood a chance against me? How could this have happened? Why?" he cried out as he started heading into the cosmos, leaving behind a sparkle as he did so.

"I suppose we actually won't be seeing him in the near future." replied Bloony, contradicting what Professor Nyctus had said.

"You think this will be the last we see of him?" asked Cherry.

"Well, Lord Cataclysm was pretty mad when he failed him the first time…I don't want to know what he'll do with him if he sees him again…" worried Bloony.

"We should probably heal our teammates." suggested Sheldon.

"Yeah, that robot was horrifying!" yelled Gary.

And so our heroes went to the Healing Springs so that their friends could fight another day…

_Meanwhile in the Hidden Tower…_

Lord Cataclysm contacted his troops. "How are you holding out?" he asked.

"Not very well. We're taking pretty heavy casualties!" replied the troops. "Worst of all, we've lost Professor Nyctus to the Heroes of Light! He was sent off flying into space into who knows where! We don't think we'll be able to find him…"

"Leave him to his fate. He has served his purpose." Lord Cataclysm ordered them.

The Black Knight and Fallenova looked at each other in astonishment, noticing how uncaring their leader was about his allies.

"He's a real smug Hissi." the Black Knight thought.

Lord Cataclysm and his two bodyguards continued climbing the tower, eventually coming across a strange staircase. No matter how far they went, the staircase never ended!

Until Lord Cataclysm pointed out the statues were pointing in various directions, telling them which way they were supposed to go.

Suffice to say, they were able to cross this puzzling obstacle, and they proceeded to continue towards the library.

Meanwhile, Shuriken was continuing placing explosives around the castle.

"He sure wants me to place a lot of them…" he thought.

He just hoped that when he was finally done, Lord Cataclysm would give him a raise or something.

"Yeah, a raise would be really nice. I could use a few more Neopoints…" he thought.

Shuriken continued doing as his boss asked of him, still thinking about getting a promotion.

Well that, and worrying that one of the guards would catch him before he could finish, since that would be pretty bad news for him.

_The Heroes of Light have succeeded in Round 2 with the mad doctor of the Cult of Apocalypse…but the war is still ongoing…_

_What do you think Steven will do now that his boss is gone? No doubt that he's going to miss him…do you think he'll go crazy just like him? He'll probably be looking for revenge…_

_And what exactly will happen to Professor Nyctus?_


	52. Chapter 52: Good vs Evil

Saving Neopia

_In this chapter Lord Cataclysm will face off against Fyora…who will win in this epic showdown?_

**Chapter 52: Good vs. Evil**

Lord Cataclysm approached Fyora's throne room with his two trusted minions, where many guards were waiting for him.

"You shall not pass!" bellowed the Faerie guards.

"Somehow, I think I will pass." Lord Cataclysm replied, who suddenly transformed into a wormhole that swallowed the Faeries whole.

This was a horrible sight for Fallenova and the Black Knight, who both started crying.

"What can I say? They were in my way." Lord Cataclysm coldly answered them.

"Where is Fyora, anyway?" asked Fallenova.

Suddenly, the Faerie Queen herself teleported into the room.

"Greetings Fyora. I see that you've come here to submit to my absolute power." taunted Lord Cataclysm.

"I'm not going to let you take over Faerieland, Cataclysm." Queen Fyora told him.

"Oh really? As far as I know your Faeries haven't exactly put up much of a fight against me. Your security measures were worthless." Lord Cataclysm pointed out.

"Be that as it may, I'm not going to simply stand by and allow you to succeed in your evil schemes." Queen Fyora continued.

"I suppose I'll have to dispose of you quickly then. Fallenova, Black Knight, leave this battle to me." Lord Cataclysm ordered his minions.

"Yes, my lord." agreed Fallenova.

"As you wish." also agreed the Black Knight.

Suffice to say, the two of them got in an epic battle, with neither of them seeming to have the upper hand.

Fyora continually used every spell in the book against Lord Cataclysm, while Lord Cataclysm transformed into a variety of ferocious creatures, each one more fearsome than the next.

"Your feeble attempts merely prolong the inevitable." taunted Lord Cataclysm.

"Oh really? I get the feeling that you're starting to tire out." questioned Queen Fyora.

As the battle raged on, Fallenova and the Black Knight continued watching the intense battle in awe.

"Who do you think will win?" asked the Black Knight.

"I'm not sure. Both of them seem equally matched." Fallenova answered.

Indeed, there was no ending to the battle in sight.

Suddenly, Fyora shot an enormous blast of magic at Lord Cataclysm that hit him head-on.

"AARGH!" Lord Cataclysm screamed, collapsing onto the floor.

"Master!" his two henchmen screamed.

It looked as if the leader of the Cult of Apocalypse had finally met his end…no more would he cause trouble across Neopia…and no more would he bring pain and suffering to its inhabitants as he turned them into his twisted slaves…

Fyora went over to Lord Cataclysm, checking to see if he had truly been defeated…

When suddenly the dark lord grabbed her by the ankle and threw her against the wall, wounding her. The Faerie Queen immediately screamed in pain.

"Now then, what exactly should I do with you? I know! How about I do the same thing you did to the Darkest Faerie about 1000 years ago…that seems like an ironic way to go." taunted Lord Cataclysm.

While Fyora was still stunned, Lord Cataclysm transformed into a Hissi and glared at Fyora so fiercely that she immediately became a statue.

Being a Faerie herself, Fallenova immediately felt sorry for her royal highness. Why did she have to fight back against the Cult of Apocalypse?

Not long afterwards, Lord Cataclysm picked up the statue and let out a rather cliché evil laugh.

"I suppose I'll have to keep this in my castle as a trophy…it'll be a monument of my conquest of Neopia…"

The Black Knight began to feel sorry for Fyora as well, considering all she wanted was to protect Faerieland from the ones that were invading it…

Lord Cataclysm beckoned his two subordinates, and left the castle along with them.

"What else can I do to make it clear to Neopia that its days of order are over? Ah yes." Lord Cataclysm immediately contacted Shuriken on his communication device. As it turns out, he was completely done.

"Ready for detonation!" exclaimed the ninja Meerca, as he jumped out of the castle.

"Good. Press the button now." ordered Lord Cataclysm.

Suddenly, Shuriken began to hesitate. As soon as he pressed the button, Faerieland Castle would blow up in smoke…suffice to say he wasn't sure he wanted to do that.

"I don't know about this, boss." worried Shuriken.

"Just do it! If you don't, I'll do it myself…and you shall suffer gravely." barked Lord Cataclysm.

Looking the other way, the Meerca pressed the button on the remote.

Immediately, the castle exploded in a fiery testament of Lord Cataclysm's power. It was pretty clear that the Cult of Apocalypse had ultimately won the battle.

"Noooo!" the Heroes of Light exclaimed.

Eventually, our heroes realized that the best thing they could do was to retreat…and they all proceeded to board a ship that would take them across the sea…not unlike what Bloony and Cherry had done when Roo Island had been attacked.

They looked at the sight of explosion, and worried what would become of it now that Lord Cataclysm had completely conquered it.

"To think that some villains would actually do such a thing…" thought Bloony.

"At least we managed to defeat Professor Nyctus before Faerieland fell to the bad guys." optimized Cherry.

"Be that as it may, we'll probably be Cataclysm's primary targets now that Queen Fyora is no longer in his way." reminded Marvin.

"Marvin's right…I wonder if we'll be able to stop him…" worried Ursula.

"I believe if we stick together, we should be able to overcome anything." suggested Gary.

"I suppose you're correct, we can't give up, there's just too much at stake." agreed Sheldon.

"So where should we go now?" inquired Desdemona.

"I suppose we should look for the nearest spot of land for now. Maybe that way we'll be able to inform other Neopets of the bad news." Bloony ordered his teammates.

And so the Heroes of Light went on off to an unknown destination…

_Meanwhile, at Mystery Island…_

The Villains of Darkness approached the island, looking forward to having a vacation and being able to elude the authorities. Believe it or not, they were actually taking a break from evil.

Well, not an entire one though.

"Hello Neopets! Welcome to the island!" greeted Jhuidah the Island Faerie, unaware of who the Neopets (and the Faerie) she were talking to were.

Immediately, Snotty noticed the somewhat-expensive looking gold jewelry she had with her (which somewhat contrasted with the rest of her outfit, which was basically a coconut bikini and a hula skirt) and got an idea.

"Quick, someone knock her out!" demanded Snotty.

Immediately, Redtooth struck the Faerie on the head with a coconut, knocking her out cold.

"That was too easy." thought Redtooth.

Afterwards, Snotty ordered Rocky to tie Jhuidah to a nearby tree, which he was reluctant to do so due to the fact that he feared cooties.

"Yuck! Rocky hope Rocky don't get cooties…" worried Rocky.

Snotty then ordered Jennifer to take anything of value she had on her, which she happily obliged.

"Diamonds are a girl's best friend!" squealed Jennifer.

Cinder was ordered to put a gag in Jhuidah's mouth, which he did using one of his sweaty socks. Why he would have a sweaty sock was beyond the other Villains of Darkness.

"Let's see her call for help with this!" laughed Cinder.

Larry was not ordered to do anything, since he was lazy.

"Woohoo!" exclaimed Larry.

Othella was ordered to make sure that Jhuidah wasn't found by another person, so she cast an invisibility spell on her.

"I wonder why the Villains of Darkness are robbing a Faerie…nah, I'm certain they wouldn't be doing that for personal gain." thought Othella.

After they were done, Snotty pulled out binoculars and looked around the island. Immediately, he noticed something strange.

"That's weird, there's smoke coming out of the volcano…I wonder why." pondered Snotty.

He decided to take no notice of this however, and continued relaxing with his goons.

_I'm sorry if I made you all unhappy in this chapter…what can I say? Lord Cataclysm was just that evil…what do you think of him now?_

_Thankfully our heroes managed to escape Faerieland unscatched…but what will happen to them from there? Surely they'll continue trying to stop the Cult of Apocalypse…but just where were they end up?_

_As for the Villains of Darkness…well naturally our heroes will eventually cross paths with them again sooner or later…it's been a while since they've last clashed off, hasn't it?_

_In the next chapter, we'll also get to learn about what happened to Professor Nyctus…_


	53. Chapter 53: Mystery of the Island

Saving Neopia

_Well this is a rather long chapter…as you are probably aware bad things are happening to the island once again…(no thanks to those meddling Villains of Darkness), so our heroes are going to investigate…_

_Anyways, due to the fact that I keep shifting to our various protagonists' (and our antagonists') point of view…I'm going to be splitting them so they're easier to tell apart…_

**Chapter 54: Mystery of the Island**

Incidentally, the first spot of land that our heroes discovered was Mystery Island…which true to its name was a very mysterious piece of land indeed.

Once again, our heroes split up to investigate their surroundings…naturally they would be significantly weakened while doing so, but the Heroes of Light decided to do so anyway.

Thankfully, nothing happened to our heroes that they couldn't handle…

Bloony decided to visit the Island Mystic, who as with all fortune-tellers was always claiming that they could see the future.

"So, what information do you have for me?" Bloony asked.

"You will be attacked by a group of island natives." the Island Mystic foreshadowed.

"Yeah right, like that'll ever come true." thought Bloony.

Unfortunately the mystic's prediction turned out to be the truth when he discovered a bunch of island natives looking for a sacrifice shortly afterwards.

"Hey look!" shouted one of the natives.

"A Neopet!" screeched another one of the natives.

"Let's get him!" demanded yet another one of the natives.

"Aah! I should have listened to the Island Mystic!" screamed Bloony as he ran away from the deadly Neopet-eating psychos.

Thankfully, he was able to eventually outrun them, and began panting for breath.

Meanwhile, his friend Cherry had gotten herself in a spot of trouble as well. As it turns out, she was being chased by a Ghost Lupe.

"Good grief! Why do I always have to outwit Lupes that are trying to eat me?" wondered Cherry as she ran away from the hungry predator.

Thankfully, she was able to hide inside a nearby hut…naturally the Ghost Lupe continued going in the same direction.

"I wonder why they always keep doing that…" Cherry said with a puzzled look on her face.

As for our geeky Mynci, he noticed a nearby cooking pot…but there was nobody nearby.

"What's going on here?" inquired Marvin.

Suddenly, his girl-sensing abilities noticed that there appeared to be a Faerie nearby…but interestingly she did not seem to be there.

Until Marvin put on his heat-seeking goggles and noticed that she was tied to a tree with an invisibility spell cast on her.

"What happened?" wondered Marvin as he untied her…which for some reason caused the invisibility spell to wear off.

"Thanks for helping me…I was attacked by a bunch of crazy Neopets…apparently they took an interest in the gold jewelry I was wearing and so they mugged me." Jhuidah explained to him.

"Ah yes, they seem to have taken a lot of things from you…heck they even seem to have taken your shoes…" noticed Marvin.

"Funny you should mention that…" answered the Island Faerie.

Suddenly, the green Mynci realized who could be responsible for this.

"It can't be, I thought we had defeated them for good…." pondered Marvin. "Of course then again we never seem to be able to catch a break from those bozos…"

After telling Jhuidah that she would help her get her stolen items back from the pernicious Neopets that were always up to something…Marvin decided to look for the others.

Ursula decided to visit the Mystery Island Training School, where she was greeted by an elderly Techo who for some strange reason was levitating in the air.

"Greetings grasshopper, as you can see this is a school for those who wish to learn how to defend themselves." the master explained.

"So basically you're teaching Neopets how to kick butt." Ursula replied.

"Not necessarily. As I always put it, you should only fight out of self-defense…any other reason than that is most likely not a good one." he continued.

"Someone needs to tell the Villains of Darkness that." thought Ursula. "Speaking of which where are they now?"

"Anyway, if you're curious who my best student is, he is currently continuing his training at my school. Speaking of which, here he is now."

Ryshu the Nimmo came in the room asking the Techo Master if he currently had any missions for him to complete.

"Well if you insist, I would like you to investigate why the volcano is smoking. It is considered a bad omen around Mystery Island whenever that happens as you are no doubt aware…and not simply because of the fact that it may mean that the volcano is going to erupt." ordered the Techo Master.

"Wouldn't an erupting volcano also be implied by an earthquake?" Ryshu inquired.

As on cue, a sudden minor earthquake started shaking the school. The various students looked around in confusion as the various training equipment started moving on their own.

"As you can see, I have very good reasons to be concerned about all this. I suggest that you do so immediately for the safety of every Neopet on the island…and for anyone else for that matter." suggested the Techo.

"Maybe I could train here sometime…it'd probably be a good workout." pondered Ursula as she left to rejoin the others.

As she left, the Techo Master continued worrying about what was happening to the island.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of glass breaking as someone burst in through the window.

Gary visited the Tiki Tack Man, a rather strange individual who aside from selling various merchandise at his shop and offering various Neopets to play a game known as Tombola not unlike the lottery, always wore a strange mask.

Curious, Gary asked him "Why do you always wear that mask?"

"I'll show you." answered the Tiki Tack Man, taking it off for just a split second…

"AAH!" screamed Gary, seeing the horror that was underneath the island native's mask…unsurprisingly he ran out of the store shortly afterwards.

The Tiki Tack Man chuckled at the prank he just pulled. As it turns out, he had purchased a Halloween mask to wear underneath his usual one for scaring Neopets in the event they got curious about what his face could possibly look like.

Suddenly, another individual came into the room.

"Hello, may I ask what you're doing here?" the Tiki Tack Man inquired.

Our Orange Skeith friend decided to take a Tiki Tack Tour. Right before it began, he had been warned about the evil witch doctor that was always attacking Neopets who went on the tour. Apparently, his name was Tekkitu.

In response to this, Sheldon decided to take care of the witch doctor himself. A rather goofy yet brief battle occurred between the two Neopets, which naturally ended with our speedy hero winning.

On the way there however, Sheldon noticed that the tour guide seemed to have vanished.

"Where'd he go?" he thought.

Desdemona headed towards the volcano out of curiosity due to the fact that it was smoldering, when she was suddenly stopped by a Fire Faerie.

Coincidentally, she was dressed similar to Jhuidah in the fact that she was wearing ripped clothing and had apparently never heard of footwear.

"Stop! I cannot allow you to go there! I have been recently ordered by Fyora to prevent anyone from entering the volcano…in case you're wondering why…well it's simply too dangerous, that's why!" explained the Fire Faerie.

Desdemona, recalling the disastrous events that had happened to Faerieland due to the Cult of Apocalypse, started to grow suspicious.

But she decided to simply do what her fellow Faerie wanted due to the fact that she needed to regroup with the others before anything happened, recalling the incident that had occurred back in the Haunted Woods when she was alone.

As soon as she had left however, the Villains of Darkness came by, looking for a new evil villain hideout.

Naturally, they decided that the volcano would be perfect.

As before, the Fire Faerie explained that they weren't allowed to go in there, but of course the nasty Neopets paid no mind to her…which caused her to get angry and set all of them on fire.

"AAH! I'm on fire!" screamed Snotty, who began to stop, drop, and roll.

"Someone put it out! Please!" politely demanded Redtooth, who began running around in circles.

"Girls are scary!" bellowed Marvin, trying to put out the fire with his club.

"Nooooo! I just went shopping!" cried out Jennifer, looking for something in her bag to put out the fire.

"Ha! I'm a Fire Neopet, so I'm fireproof, dummy!" taunted Cinder.

"I do believe I'm on fire." thought Larry, taking the flames surprisingly well.

"I paid a lot of money for this dress!" complained Othella, who frantically began trying to put out her dress before the story would become rated M.

As the various villains ran away like sissy little cowards, the hot-tempered Faerie let out a sigh of relief.

"That was a little close for comfort…I can't let anyone figure out what I'm planning to do to Mystery Island…but so far things are going well…the shaman will be very, very pleased…"

_By now you've probably guessed who that Faerie is…but if not, it doesn't really matter._

_In the next chapter, our heroes will continue their investigations of what is happening to the island…and will bump into the Villains of Darkness along the way…._


	54. Chapter 54: History Repeats Itself

Saving Neopia

_In this chapter, our heroes will face the Villains of Darkness…again…they never seem to give up, do they? Also, they'll start to realize that a certain plot is happening all over…try to guess which one…_

**Chapter 54: History Repeats Itself**

Unfortunately for Marvin, he eventually lost track of Jhuidah…leaving him to wonder where she had gone.

"Where'd she go?" wondered Marvin.

Marvin decided to simply return to the others. As it turns out, they had noticed that strange things were happening to the island too.

For example, many of the people they had visited earlier had suddenly gone missing.

"What's going on here?" thought Bloony.

Suddenly, they noticed the Villains of Darkness running straight towards them…

"YOU!" bellowed Snotty.

"You guys escaped from jail again?" exclaimed Cherry with disbelief.

"What can we say? No prison can hold the Villains of Darkness!" explained Redtooth.

"Rocky say we beat the crud out of Heroes of Light once and for all!" demanded Rocky.

"I've been looking forward to this." grinned Jennifer.

"You're going to get it now!" bellowed Cinder.

"Let's wrap this up quickly, it's time for my afternoon nap." suggested Larry.

"You shall be brought to justice once and for all!" yelled Othella.

And so for the millionth time or so, the Heroes of Light got in a fight with the Villains of Darkness.

Snotty was once again playing one of his twisted games, which in this case was a game of chess. Of course there was a twist, every time one of the pieces was lost, their respective owner was injured. Both of them suffered many injuries as both of them took each other's chess pieces.

It appeared that there was going to be a stalemate, until Bloony managed to prevail by taking Snotty's queen using one of his bishops.

"Nooo!" screamed Snotty.

Naturally, this meant that Snotty would now be battling Bloony with a huge handicap, mainly due to the fact that his archenemy still had a queen.

What happened shortly afterwards could be summed up in one word.

"Checkmate!" exclaimed Bloony.

"AARGH!" screeched Snotty, knocking the table along with its pieces on the ground in a fit of rage. He passed out shortly afterwards.

As usual, Redtooth was trying to chase Cherry, who as usual was looking for a way to get away from me.

"How many times have you tried to eat me for dinner, now Redtooth?" questioned the red Chia.

"About as many times as I've failed!" answered the blue Lupe.

"Maybe you should go on a diet!" suggested Cherry.

"Grr!" snarled Redtooth.

Suffice to say, Cherry decided to hide from him using a giant cooking pot…but she ended up coming out differently.

"Whoa! How'd I get so big?" wondered Cherry, who was now roughly the size of Chiazilla.

"Eep!" squealed Redtooth at the sight of his enemy now grown to gargantuan proportions.

Cherryzilla proceeded to stomp her adversary, knocking him out cold.

Suffice to say, she turned back to normal shortly afterwards.

"Aw man!" complained Cherry.

Once again, Marvin and Rocky were duking it out, with Marvin's technology versus Rocky's improvisation.

"Rocky whack you with a club!" yelled Rocky.

"Not if I zap you with my gun first." taunted Marvin.

"Rocky crush you!" bellowed the caveman Mynci, crushing the green Mynci under a giant boulder.

"Get…it…off…" weakly pleaded Marvin.

"Rocky finally won!" laughed the evil caveman.

Suddenly, the boulder rolled off of Marvin and towards Rocky.

"Aargh!" bellowed the evil Mynci as he was crushed underneath it and sent rolling for miles.

"You should have gone extinct a long time ago." thought Marvin.

Naturally, Ursula and Jennifer were squaring off as well. She was throwing jewelry of doom at the blue Usul, giving her quite a hard time.

"Quit throwing that at me!" demanded Ursula.

"Well to be honest, they're quite expensive…but never!" answered Jennifer.

"Fine!"

Ursula proceeded to pick up Jennifer and toss her into the nearby lake, ruining her makeup.

"Noooo!" bellowed Jennifer, who was now unable to continue fighting.

"That's right, I just made your makeup run!" laughed Ursula.

As usual, Gary was trying to avoid the deadly horn of his archenemy Cinder…which was easier to say now that his adversary could now light him on fire.

"Ouch! Hot hot hot!" screamed Gary.

Thankfully, the Grarrl managed to dive into a nearby body of water to escape the flames.

"I think I should be safe from him now…" he thought.

Cinder attempted to charge at Gary now that his fire was ineffective…

But unfortunately, he wasn't a particularly good swimmer, and he ended up sinking up like a stone and ultimately wound up unconscious.

Suffice to say, our Grarrl hero decided to save him…due to the fact that he felt like his archenemy didn't deserve such a fate.

Sheldon and Larry were also fighting…but Larry wasn't exactly doing much.

"Zzz…" slept the lazy Moehog.

"Wake up!" demanded Sheldon.

Larry kept on sleeping.

"Wake up!" continued Sheldon.

Larry was still asleep.

Sheldon pulled out a foghorn and shouted "Wake up!"

Larry woke up, and then passed out from fright from how loud his archenemy had been.

"Ugh…" groaned the orange Skeith.

Finally, Desdemona was up against Othella.

"Give it up, you nasty Dark Faerie!" bellowed Othella, firing deadly lightning at Desdemona.

"For the last time, just because I'm a Dark Faerie doesn't mean I'm nasty!" replied the Dark Faerie.

Suffice to say the two of them were fighting much like they did earlier, only this time they had wands…which naturally meant that there was a lot of destruction.

"Why?" screamed a native as his hut collapsed to the ground.

This time, Othella came up with a few new tricks…she charged lightning orbs and then tossed them at Desdemona, which had quite an explosive effect.

"Stop that!" demanded Desdemona, tossing black skulls of darkness at her in retaliation.

Finally, after several rounds of battling, Desdemona managed to win once again, turning Othella into a Mortog.

"That should keep you busy for a while…" thought the Dark Faerie.

Othella glared at Desdemona with rage.

After our heroes had finished fighting the Villains of Darkness, they decided what their next move should be.

"I suggest we try to search that volcano that Fire Faerie was guarding…" ordered Bloony.

"Wait! Maybe we should look for the island elders first…that way they'll be able to help us deal with whatever's happening." suggested Cherry.

"That sounds like a good idea…wait, where are the Villains of Darkness?" inquired Marvin.

As it turns out, they had ran off shortly after they had been defeated.

"Aargh!" screeched Ursula. "We let them get away!"

"I suppose the only thing we'll be able to do is wait for us to cross paths again…" spoke Gary.

Both Sheldon and Desdemona sighed.

But at least now the Villains of Darkness weren't in their way anymore…so they could continue doing what it was that they did best…stopping the plans of evildoers…

_Meanwhile high above Neopia…_

Professor Nyctus screamed as he was sent flying from the explosion of his robot. Why did this always happen to him? It seemed like every time he went up against the Heroes of Light, something horrible happened to him, whether it was by Lord Cataclysm or what had happened just now.

He wondered if he would survive…and started to remember the day that he had been recruited by Lord Cataclysm.

He and his assistant Steven had once been renowned scientists, and were considered some of the brightest Neopets in all of Neopia.

Life had been good for them…until that day when something went horribly wrong…

He and Steven were trying to create yet another formula using various chemicals…when suddenly their laboratory exploded, scorching them and effectively changing them forever.

He had gone crazy after seeing that his laboratory along with all his research had literally gone up into smoke…essentially, his mind had snapped into two from the disaster. Before he thought he was a scientist, now he thought he was an idiot. Before he was a scientist…now he was a mad scientist.

He was approached by the leader of the Cult of Apocalypse shortly after the event…who offered him to help him make a chemical that would make Neopia a better place. It seemed like a good idea at the time…but now that he was heading straight towards outer space he started to consider if it would really help Neopia now that he realized how bad his boss was.

Suddenly, he landed on Kreludor, where the last thing he saw before passing out were a bunch of Grundos who looked at him with curiousity.

_Now we know what happened to Professor Nyctus…anyways, can our heroes put a stop to what is happening to Mystery Island once before? Or will history change itself for the worse? You'll learn more about this in the next chapter…_


	55. Chapter 55: Rescue Operation

Saving Neopia

_Sorry guys, I've been having writer's block lately…but I think I know exactly what to make this next chapter about…saving the elders from their horrible fate…_

**Chapter 55: Rescue Operation**

Our heroes wondered where all the elders had gone. Something terrible must have happened if they had all gone missing at once.

But where were they exactly? Our heroes had no luck finding them. They searched all over the island, looking for all of the guardians.

Eventually they managed to find the Tiki Tack Man (who ironically was in his Tombola the entire time), but there was something wrong with him.

"Hey, Tiki Tack Man! What's with the new mask?" inquired Cherry.

"Help me! I was given a cursed mask by this evil shaman! Ask for help, please!" demanded the Tiki Tack Man.

Thankfully, our heroes were able to give him another one by using the Shop Wizard.

"I'm glad that Jubjub's always around to help us get items…except when we're doing a Faerie Quest." thought Bloony.

"Thank you. You should look for the others however, you will need their help." suggested the Tiki Tack Man.

The next guardian they decided to look for was the Island Mystic. Curiously, he was already there and had information to tell them.

Apparently, someone was trying to awaken a monster inside the volcano….and that the Heroes of Light had to stop them. Naturally, our heroes volunteered for the job.

Our heroes decided to look for Jhuidah next. Unfortunately, they had difficulty finding her…well, except for Marvin.

Apparently, someone had shrunken her and trapped her inside a fishbowl. Our heroes realized that they needed to turn her back to normal.

But how would they possibly do that?

"Maybe we could create a potion that will turn her back to normal?" suggested Marvin.

"That's a great idea! Maybe we could create a growth potion or something…" agreed Ursula.

And so our heroes looked up a growth potion, collected all the ingredients, and poured it on Jhuidah, turning her back to normal.

"Ugh…my hair…" complained Jhuidah, whose hair was still soaking wet.

The next thing they did was look for the Tiki Tour Guide. Where was that coconut Jubjub?

Oddly, they found him inside a Neopets user's shop. Suffice to say, they were extremely careful not to interact with said user in order to prevent the fourth wall from collapsing.

As before, our heroes were able to turn one of the guardians back to normal.

"Now then, rescue the Techo Master, will you? I'm sure that Ryshu the Nimmo misses him already." spoke the Tiki Tour Guide.

As it turns out, the Techo Master had been turned to stone. Thankfully, Desdemona was able to turn him back to normal due to the fact that she knew all about dark magic.

"Much obliged grasshoppers. However, I'm afraid there is more you must do than simply rescue us from our predicaments. You must stop the evil shaman from succeeding in his evil plans. Judging from his lack of originality, he is likely attempting to awaken Moltenus once again." warned the Techo Master.

"Seems he can't get any more ideas." thought Sheldon.

"He must be scary!" exclaimed Gary.

Our heroes headed back towards Mystery Island Volcano, and noticed that the Fire Faerie they saw earlier was missing.

"Where'd she go?" thought Bloony.

As it turns out, she was currently making preparations to awaken the deadly molten Petpet that lurked underneath the volcano.

"I thought Fyora sent her to guard the volcano…why'd she suddenly decide to leave?" wondered Desdemona.

"Something tells me she's not the Faerie she claims to be." said Ursula, suspicious.

Meanwhile, the Villains of Darkness were plotting their next move.

"Seeing though that Fire Faerie that was guarding the volcano was gone, let's make this our new hideout, shall we?" suggested Snotty.

"I don't know, Snotty, the smoke coming from the volcano tells me that it might be erupting soon." Redtooth pointed out.

"Wouldn't want to end up like the Wicked Witch of Western Neopia." warned Jennifer.

"Nonsense, what's the worst that could happen?" Snotty threw caution to the wind.

Unfortunately, it seemed that the villains had a difficult time traversing the volcano.

"These tunnels confusing!" complained Rocky.

"I imagine they would be…" agreed Cinder.

"How much longer?" whined Larry.

Suddenly, our heroes heard what appeared to be magical chanting.

"Who's saying that?" wondered Othella.

As it turns out, it was Eithne, who appeared to be in deep concentration.

"Oh man! Not her again!" exclaimed Redtooth.

"Be quiet, I want to hear what's going on." whispered Snotty.

As it turned out, she was casting a magical spell…as she did so, the lava in the volcano started bubbling.

"What's going on here?" murmured Jennifer.

Suddenly, they noticed that Othella appeared to be missing.

"What that goody-goody up to now?" thought Rocky.

"Stop right there!" screeched Othella, who began attacking Eithne.

"Ugh! Why do good people always try to spoil my evil plans! It's so annoying!" exclaimed the Fire Faerie.

Immediately, she whistled, and an evil shaman suddenly appeared in a puff of smoke.

"I guess we should probably help Othella." proposed Cinder.

The villains decided to attack the evil shaman (also known as Tura-Kepek)...

…and were immediately turned into several different Petpets when he casted a massive polymorph spell.

To be more specific, Snotty was turned into a Meepit, Redtooth was turned into a Warf, Rocky was turned into a Niptor, Jennifer was turned into a Kadoatie, Cinder was turned into a Stego, Larry was turned into a Khnum, and Othella was turned into a Faellie.

They were then locked into a conveniently-located cage by Eithne, allowing her to continue the ritual.

"Hopefully there won't be any more interruptions." thought Eithne.

_It looks like the Villains of Darkness won't be able to stop Tura-Kepek or Eithne from succeeding in their evil plans…but can the Heroes of Light do the job?_

_In the next chapter…well, you'll probably know what's going to happen in the next chapter…but anyways, Lord Cataclysm will be sending an old friend of theirs to finish off the Heroes of Light once and for all…_


	56. Chapter 56: Voodoo Hoodoo

Saving Neopia

_In this chapter, our heroes will get to face Tura-Kepek…but suffice to say it won't be brawn that will save the day…_

_By the way, in case it's not obvious, we're getting late into the story…suffice to say big events will be happening throughout Neopia shortly…_

**Chapter 56: Voodoo Hoodoo**

After saving the elders, the Heroes of Light decided to see if they knew how to defeat Tura-Kepek. They told them that there was an incantation that could defeat him…but they had to figure out for themselves what it was.

There was also an incantation that could be used to awaken the Moltenus…but our heroes wondered why they would need to use that.

They decided they might as well go to stop the evil shaman and the vicious Fire Faerie from succeeding in the evil plans…after all; Mystery Island wouldn't look so well as a wasteland.

"We better get there quick!" warned Sheldon, who began dashing towards the volcano…unfortunately leaving his teammates behind.

As soon as our heroes entered the volcano, they wondered where Eithne and Tura-Kepek could possibly be…and also started whining about the heat.

"Gosh, it's awfully hot in here…" complained Ursula.

"What do you expect? We're inside a volcano. With molten rock and everything." pointed out Bloony.

"I just hope that we get somewhere colder soon." Marvin agreed.

"Didn't we already go to Terror Mountain?" spoke out Cherry.

"Let's just be quiet. We want to find that shaman, not for him to find us." ordered Bloony.

And so our heroes remained quiet as they all looked for Eithne and Tura-Kepek…eventually, they managed to find them. Curiously, they noticed that there were several Petpets in a cage nearby. Were they going to be used for a sacrifice or something?

Suddenly, Bloony noticed that Eithne was deep in concentration, and he suddenly got an idea.

"Ancient beast of magma awaken!" chanted Bloony.

Suddenly, Moltenus emerged from the lava, much to Eithne and Tura-Kepek's surprise. It began attacking them both, spreading flames and magma everywhere.

Our heroes decided not to watch, as it looked like things were going to get rather messy. They eventually opened their eyes, and saw that Eithne was nowhere in sight, and there was a pile of ashes on the floor.

Suddenly, Moltenus turned its attention to them.

"Oh snap!" screamed Gary.

Suffice to say it looked like our heroes were done for. How were they going to defeat something that big?

Until Bloony pointed out that due to the fact that is was made from lava, maybe they could try to cool it down.

And so our heroes began trying to do that, using whatever they had available. But it seemed that nothing was working. The monster was simply too hot.

The shaman began mumbling something in an incomprehensible language. Perhaps he was controlling the monster?

Immediately, Bloony got an idea. He threw a stone at Tura-Kepek's staff, causing it to shatter in two.

Moltenus didn't react well to this. Slowly, it began hardening, and eventually it had been turned to stone. Apparently it couldn't survive long outside of the boiling lava…at least not without someone using voodoo and whatnot.

There was good news and some bad news out of all this. The good news was that there was no longer a magma monster trying to destroy them. The bad news was that now there was an evil shaman attacking them. Apparently he wasn't happy that they had ruined his plans.

Sheldon dashed towards him, but Tura-Kepek pulled out a voodoo doll and sent him flying, causing him to crash his head into the wall.

"Oww…." murmured Sheldon, who now had a killer concussion.

"Hey Marvin, what does your scouter say about his power level?" asked Bloony.

"9,001, why?" answered Marvin.

"Oh no…" facepalmed Bloony.

Our heroes all tried to attack Tura-Kepek, but every time he would use his voodoo magic to interrupt them.

"Ergh!" screamed Ursula as Tura-Kepek kept using a shield to block her rapid punches.

This kept on and on until eventually all of our heroes (with the exception of Bloony) were unable to fight anymore.

Suddenly, Bloony remembered the clues the elders had given him to defeating the shaman, and suddenly he got an idea.

"Begone evil shaman of darkness!" bellowed the yellow Blumaroo.

Tura-Kepek's eyes widened as he suddenly began disappearing. What was happening?

Apparently this was his ultimate weakness, as before long Tura-Kepek had vanished completely. Our heroes weren't exactly sure what had happened to him, but they weren't in the mood in the care. All that mattered was that Mystery Island was finally saved!

"Maybe we should throw a party later?" suggested Desdemona.

Our heroes decided to release the Petpets that were possibly being used for some sort of dark ritual, due to the fact that they wouldn't want them to fall in harm's way. Bloony couldn't quite put his mind on it, but they seemed kind of familiar.

"Do I know them?" thought Bloony.

Anyways, our heroes received a bunch of gratitude from all the Mystery Island natives. As with several other locations in Neopia, they were being hailed as heroes.

Unfortunately, this attracted the attention of a few villains…

_At the Apocalypse Castle…_

"Sir, we've managed to locate the Heroes of Light…" stated one of the members of the Cult of Apocalypse.

Lord Cataclysm unfortunately wasn't paying attention. He was currently staring at the petrified statue of Fyora. Looking at it gave him so much pleasure…that he had finally triumphed over one of his biggest threats…

"Um…sir…" the cult member started trembling.

"What?!" demanded Lord Cataclysm.

"We believe we know where the Heroes of Light are. We think they're at Mystery Island…" explained the member.

"They survived the battle against Faerieland?!" Lord Cataclysm screeched. Immediately, he grabbed the unfortunate Cult of Apocalypse member and tossed him out the window. Apparently, he wasn't happy that they were still alive. He then turned towards Fallenova, who suffice to say was no longer wearing her cloak due to the fact that her identity was now known to everyone.

"Get Shuriken here…I want him to take care of this…" ordered the leader of the Cult of Apocalypse.

Fallenova did as she was asked, taking a look at the statue of Fyora as she left.

Sure enough Shuriken arrived at Lord Cataclysm's throne room a short while later.

"Yes, master?" asked Shuriken, somewhat trembling as he did so after what he had forced him to do.

"I want you take down the Heroes of Light once and for all. Don't fail me or you'll end up like Professor Nyctus." barked the evil shapeshifter.

"Yes, master….but I'm not sure if I'll be able to do that…" warned the Meerca ninja.

Lord Cataclysm grabbed the Meerca ninja and lifted him against the wall.

"What do you mean by that?!" screeched the horrible tyrant.

"I mean that I don't think I'm strong enough!" cried out the unfortunate lackey.

Lord Cataclysm put down the Meerca ninja and gave him a potion. Shuriken suddenly remembered it as the same potion he had given him earlier in order to boost his capabilities.

"Use this." he ordered.

The Meerca ninja did so. Immediately, he felt far stronger.

"I'm king of the world!" he squealed as he dashed out of the castle.

"He seems overly confident of himself." pointed out Fallenova.

"Not like it matters…" thought Lord Cataclysm.

_At Kreludor…_

Professor Nyctus woke to discover that he was in a bed being looked after…by a Grundo nurse.

"What happened? The last thing I remember was being sent flying into space…" recalled the mad doctor.

"We found you inside a rather enormous crater…you looked rather beat up." explained the alien nurse.

Suddenly, Professor Nyctus realized where he was, he was on Neopia's moon, where all the space aliens referred to by many as Grundos resided.

He remembered something about the little green men…apparently they were used by Dr. Sloth to form a mutant army back in the day…

All of a sudden, it occurred to him that despite everything Lord Cataclysm had said to him that he was doing harm to Neopia rather than good. He had conducted rather goofy yet immoral experiments on several Petpets and had designed destructive war vehicles. He even recalled the one incident where he had tricked a yellow Acara into drinking a potion that would transform him into a monster…he thanked Fyora that it wore off after a period of time…

All of a sudden he broke down into tears. What had he done? How could he have allowed Lord Cataclysm to manipulate him so easily? Of course granted, he had psychologically snapped after the destruction of his laboratory and most of his colleagues…but he still felt horribly guilty.

Immediately, Professor Nyctus jumped out of bed and started running away. He couldn't stay with the Grundos…eventually they would figure out about all the horrific deeds he had done. They would surely freak out!

"Where are you going?" asked the Grundo nurse.

"Maybe he's already recovered." suggested the Grundo doctor.

Professor Nyctus decided to look for an isolated planet using a telescope…one where he wouldn't have to cross paths with society ever again…when suddenly he noticed that there was an enormous meteor heading towards the planet…

In fact, it was heading straight towards the city.

The mad scientist screamed. If something wasn't done, there would no doubt be an enormous explosion that would put an end to Kreludor civilization.

Immediately, he realized what he had to do. Immediately, he went to the city and warned everyone about the meteorite.

Just in the nick of time, the Grundos were able to stop the asteroid from crashing into the planet…using a giant laser beam as per his suggestion.

Not long afterwards, they began hailing him as a hero…which caused him to realize something.

"I may not be able to reverse the actions I've done in the past…but maybe I might be able to make up for them…" thought the scientist.

And so Professor Nyctus decided that perhaps he could stay with the Grundos after all… of course, he'd probably have to tell them about the atrocities he had done while part of the Cult of Apocalypse…but he figured that perhaps they could get over that.

_It looks like Professor Nyctus has finally decided to quit working for the bad guys…meanwhile…it looks like our heroes will have a lot of trouble coming their way. They may have defeated the shaman…but can they defeat a superpowered ninja?_


	57. Chapter 57: Way of the Ninja

Saving Neopia

_In this chapter, our heroes will face off against Shuriken yet again…and learn some surprising information about his backstory…_

**Chapter 57: Way of the Ninja**

Our heroes were training at the Mystery Island Training School, hoping to get stronger for what was ahead.

"It was a good thing there was an incantation for defeating that shaman…" thought Bloony.

"I suppose brawn can't always win the day…" agreed Marvin.

"Let's just get back to training so we can defeat the Cult of Apocalypse." suggested Ursula.

And so our heroes started doing various exercises as directed by the Techo Master…suffice to say it was paying off in the long run.

As they did so however, they couldn't help but shake the feeling that there was something bad coming their way.

Unfortunately, this would be ultimately confirmed when the superpowered Shuriken broke inside the Mystery Island Trading School while the Techo Master was away…

"What are you doing here?" demanded Bloony.

"To finish what I started!" answered Shuriken.

Our heroes tried fighting the Meerca, but unfortunately he was just too speedy.

"I can't catch him!" Cherry screeched.

"You never will!" taunted the Meerca.

"How did he get so fast?" wondered Sheldon, who was a speedster himself.

Suddenly, Marvin got the idea of stepping on his tail, and did so, effectively locking him in place.

"Get off!" demanded Shuriken, who began tugging at his tail.

Our heroes then started beating up the Meerca, only for him to eventually break free (causing Marvin to fall over in the process) and start beating the dung out of the nearest target, which unfortunately was Bloony.

"Aargh!" screamed the leader of the Heroes of Light.

The Meerca laughed as he proceeded to pummel Bloony into submission, knocking him out cold.

"Nooo!" screamed the other Heroes of Light.

"Now that I've got your leader out of commission, taking out the rest of you should be a lot easier." stated Shuriken. And unfortunately, he was correct.

Suddenly, the Techo Master came into the room. He certainly was fast for an old Neopet.

"What is going on here?" screeched the master.

Shuriken gasped in surprise.

"Do you two know each other?" asked Gary.

The Techo Master sighed. "I suppose I'm going to have to explain this to you."

"Can you make it quick? I'm kind of in a battle here…" complained the Meerca ninja.

"You see this Meerca here? He was once a pupil of mine…pupil being the key word. You see, he never did so well irregardless of whatever I told him to do…he failed even the simplest of missions."

"Aargh! Don't tell them that!" screamed Shuriken.

"Suffice to say he eventually got fed up and said that he was going to set out on his own. I tried to get him to stop, but he said that he couldn't take it anymore and then left. I haven't seen him again, up until today." continued the Techo Master.

"Funny you should mention that. You see, not long after I left the Mystery Island Training School, I came across a rather strange fellow wearing a cloak, who gave he would give me something that would help me get stronger if I joined his cause…" the evil Meerca told his side of the story.

"What exactly did he give you?" questioned the Techo Master.

"Just a rather noxious-looking potion that was dark green…in fact, just recently he gave me a second dose." answered Shuriken.

The Techo Master's widened in horror at this revelation. "Do you realize what you've done?" he bellowed.

"What have I d-" Suddenly, Shuriken passed out on the floor.

"What's going on?" asked Ursula.

"That potion he's been taking is incredibly dangerous. It accelerates the body organs to the point where they stop beating!" screamed the Techo Master.

"Darn Lord Cataclysm and his manipulative ways…" thought Bloony.

"That's horrible! What do we do?" asked Desdemona.

"Stand back. I think I might be able to remove it from his body…hopefully anyway."

The Techo Master approached Shuriken, and placed his hands on his face. They started glowing, and our heroes noticed the potion being drained from his body.

"Looks like he's going to be OK!" squealed Gary.

"Be quiet will you? I need to concentrate." warned the elderly Techo.

It took a while, but eventually the potion was entirely drained out of Shuriken.

"What happened? And why do I feel so weak?" thought the Meerca.

"You were just drained of a deadly poison." explained the master to the grasshopper.

"Poison? What are you talking about?" Shuriken scratched his body of a head.

Once again, the Techo Master explained about the deadly potion that Lord Cataclysm had given him.

"You mean all along he's been giving me venom? I never thought of that…" inquired the Cult of Apocalypse ninja.

"Yes, pretty much. I'm afraid that you're far from the only one that's been deceived by him, unfortunately. Speaking of which, I heard that he had recently conquered Faerieland…I feel sorry for his subjects, being tricked into doing such horrible things…" the Techo Master spoke his opinions.

"Gosh…maybe I should stop working for him…" agreed Shuriken. "But what will I do? I've been brought down to normal!"

Once again, the Techo Master explained to him that discipline would be the key to getting his former strength back…at least without using anything that would shorten his lifespan drastically.

Shuriken sighed. "Perhaps you were right after all…"

And so the Meerca ninja went back to training with the Techo Master…for a while, it seemed that things weren't going to get any better for him…as the Heroes of Light observed.

But eventually, he managed to do something right for a change…which was chopping a board in half as per the Techo's instructions.

"Yes! I finally did it!" the Meerca explained.

This went on and on…until eventually the Techo Master decided to give him his yellow belt…partly due to the fact that he had decided to become a ninja the old-fashioned way.

"Now then, promise me that you won't work for Lord Cataclysm ever again." demanded the Techo Master.

"I suppose I won't…what is he up to anyway?" questioned Shuriken.

"Simple. He wants nothing more than to destroy everything that Neopia holds dear…to transform it into a world of pure evil…." explained the Techo Master.

"I can't believe I've been working for him! I feel so guilty!" screamed the former Cult of Apocalypse member.

"Well then, maybe you should try to atone for your actions." suggested the Techo Master.

Suffice to say the first thing Shuriken did was apologize to the Heroes of Light, particularly Bloony, who just woke up with a nasty headache.

"You promise not to work with the Cult of Apocalypse again?" Bloony asked.

"I swear!" he screamed.

"You really promise not to work with the Cult of Apocalypse again?" Bloony asked once more.

"I swear! I swear!" he screeched.

"You swear to Fyora not to work with the Cult of Apocalypse again?" Bloony asked for the final time.

"I'll never do it again! I swear!" Shuriken yelled.

"Very well. All is forgiven…if you tell me what you know about the Cult of Apocalypse." the yellow Blumaroo demanded.

"Alright…I'll tell you what I know…first of all, they're residing in an enormous castle…it's isolated from the rest of Neopia…so I'm not sure where it is unfortunately…" Shuriken told them sadly.

"If you don't know where it is, then how do you get back there and back again?" asked Cherry.

"I use this…" Shuriken stated, pulling out a badge with the Cult of Apocalypse embedded on it. "Unfortunately, they're designed in such a way that they work for one Neopet and one Neopet only…suffice to say it won't for you if you try it."

"That's OK, I'm sure we'll be able to get somebody else to look at it." Desdemona assured him.

"Good...I'm not sure how Lord Cataclysm will react to all of this though." warned Shuriken.

_Meanwhile at the Cult of Apocalypse Castle…_

"What do you mean you haven't heard of Shuriken since he went to take down the Heroes of Light?" barked Lord Cataclysm.

"It's true! He hasn't given us any information about his whereabouts…it appears that we've lost him to our enemies…" Fallenova explained.

As usual, Lord Cataclysm defenestrated his unfortunate lackey…of course due to the fact Fallenova was a Faerie, she was able to fly back up.

"I've had it with these heroes! They've been a thorn in my side for far too long! And you know what else…this is all your fault!" he screamed, punching Fallenova several feet as he did so.

Immediately, Fallenova stared to wonder if Lord Cataclysm was truly a hero as he said he was. "How is this all my fault?" she asked.

"Simple. You let those Neopets go after you defeated them back at Terror Mountain...thanks to them my cult is collapsing as I speak!"

Suffice to say, what happened next were various acts of cartoonish violence against Fallenova, ranging from having her wings twisted to being flung against a wall…suffice to say she was rather beat up after the incident was over. In fact, she was knocked out cold.

"Now then, if you excuse me, I'm going to go speak with Steven…after that, I'm going to set a trap for those Neopets that will destroy them once and for all…"

_Uh-oh! It looks like Lord Cataclysm is going to take revenge against our heroes! But what could be so important to make him want to talk to Steven first…I suppose I'll have to reveal that in the next chapter…_


	58. Chapter 58: Splitting the Party

Saving Neopia

_In this chapter, our heroes will split up in order to travel to different places in Neopia…can you guess which ones they're going?_

**Chapter 57: Splitting the Party**

Lord Cataclysm approached Steven, and grabbed him by the neck. "You had better have found out why those Neopets aren't affected by my chemical…" he murmured.

Steven nodded. "Please, let me go!"

Lord Cataclysm dropped him.

"Anyways, it turns out that the chemical my boss invented had some flaws…apparently, not all Neopets are affected by it. It depends on their personality and how they behave…" Steven explained.

Lord Cataclysm gave out a roar of frustration. Apparently, the mad scientist that had invented the formula was actually an idiot…

"No matter. I'm going to get a bunch of people I know to destroy Neopia once and for all…" the dark lord said, as he went back to his throne room.

He started focusing his dark powers…laughing somewhat as he did so.

"Soon the Heroes of Light will pay dearly for everything they have done to me…" he spoke.

As he continued focusing his powers, shapes began forming out of the darkness…

Lord Cataclysm let out an evil laugh.

_Meanwhile at Mystery Island…_

"Hey guys, I've got some bad news." Bloony explained.

"What?" asked the other members of the Heroes of Light.

"Despite our best efforts, that darkness that corrupts everything it touches apart from us is still spreading. In fact, right now it's spreading over Virtupets Space Station, Maraqua, The Lost Desert, Terror Mountain, Meridell, The Haunted Woods, and even Altador…suffice to say things aren't looking so good."

"What do we do?" inquired Cherry.

"I suggest that we split up. Cherry, you find a way to breathe underwater so that you can get to Maraqua without drowning, Marvin, you head towards the Lost Desert, Ursula, you head towards Terror Mountain, Sheldon, you head towards Meridell, Desdemona, you head towards the Haunted Woods, and Gary, you head towards Altador."

"You sure we should split up like this? It seems awfully dangerous." warned Marvin.

"We should be able to fend for ourselves after everything we've been through. After all, we've got new powers recently from the Faerie Queen…although unfortunately I get the feeling that Lord Cataclysm somehow managed to defeat her."

"Alright, if you say so."

And so our heroes went their separate ways for the time being.

As they left, Bloony began thinking of a way to get to outer space…

"In retrospect, I should have probably asked Marvin to build me a rocket or something." acknowledged Bloony.

Suddenly, Bloony noticed that there was a catapult nearby. He had no idea how it got there, but he decided to give it a try.

Sure enough, it sent him flying straight up into space. He had no idea how it was that strong, but anyways, he ended up crashing straight into the station.

"Well, that was easier than I thought it would be. I could have probably ended up getting killed though." thought Bloony.

He wondered if his teammates were having the same luck he was having.

_A few hours later…at Krawk Island…_

Cherry paid the Mystery Island native several Neopoints for rowing her to Krawk Island.

"Now then, let's see if I can find some sort of underwater transportation." thought Cherry.

She started looking around, seeing if she could find anything. She saw lots of ships, but no submarine of any kind.

"Aww, bummer." pouted the red Chia.

Suddenly she noticed what appeared to be a pirate ship.

"Why does it look so familiar?" thought Cherry.

Then she suddenly remembered that said pirate ship belonged to Garin and his crew of scallywags…interestingly enough they were the ones that helped save Maraqua from Captain Scarblade and his crew of evil pirates. Perhaps he could help?

Taking a deep breath, Cherry decided to climb aboard.

_At the Lost Desert…_

"Good grief I can't believe I have to go here again!" complained Marvin.

He had arrived rather quickly thanks to his technology…however he had forgotten to build something that could be used to cool himself down.

"I should have brought some water." thought Marvin. Already he was beginning to see mirages.

Luckily, the nearest civilization wasn't far away, and the Mynci was able to get to Sahkmet.

"Now then, I suppose I should just wait here in case anything happens." thought Marvin.

_At Terror Mountain…_

Ursula was chattering her teeth. It was just as cold as ever…in fact, she wondered if it was even colder than before. Then again, she never bothered to check the weather channel.

She decided that perhaps she should look for shelter so that she wouldn't freeze to death.

"It's a good thing I have fur." thought Ursula as she headed towards Happy Valley, the warmest part of Terror Mountain (although it was still somewhat cold).

_At Altador…_

Gary stared in awe at the place he was going. It was medieval, but looked somewhat more majestic than Meridell.

"I can't wait to meet the Heroes of Altador." he thought.

He decided to head towards the enormous castle. Hopefully he would be able to find help.

_At Meridell…_

Sheldon looked around Meridell to see if he could find anything out of the normal. But so far everything looked fine.

He noticed the citadel floating in the distance, and wondered if it had anything to do with the darkness Bloony stated was spreading over Neopia.

He had no way to get there however, so he decided to head towards Meridell Castle for the time being.

_At Haunted Woods…_

If Desdemona weren't a Dark Faerie, she probably wouldn't enjoy being in the spooky forest known simply as the Haunted Woods. But this was where most of her friends resided given how dark and horrible it was.

Desdemona couldn't really see if anything was out of the unusual however. It was already horrific, and she wondered why anyone would want to target it with the forces of darkness.

"And yet Bloony said this place was in trouble…" thought Desdemona.

_It looks like our heroes have gone their separate ways…but what is Lord Cataclysm up to? Can our heroes survive being separated? And what are the Villains of Darkness currently up to? Information will be given in the next chapter…_

_Can you guess who Lord Cataclysm is summoning? Any guesses?_


	59. Chapter 59: Blast from the Past

Saving Neopia

_In this chapter, Lord Cataclysm will awaken the villains that have plagued Neopia in the past…suffice to say it will be in big trouble pretty soon…not like it wasn't already…_

**Chapter 59: Blast from the Past**

Lord Cataclysm watched with delight as the summoning ritual finally finished…standing before him were some of the nastiest threats to Neopia…some of which were unfortunately still on the loose, such as Captain Scarblade…

"Greetings evildoers…as you can see I have summoned you here to ruin Neopia for every Neopet in existence…" Lord Cataclysm explained.

"Why should we work for you?" inquired Dr. Sloth.

"Well, let me explain." continued Lord Cataclysm. "I don't ask much from you, all I want you to do is make Neopia as miserable as you can. Due to the fact that you probably don't want to work together, I've assigned to you different locations in Neopia you should be familiar with."

"You don't say?" replied The Darkest Faerie.

Lord Cataclysm then proceeded to assign the various villains to different locations in Neopia. Dr. Sloth was assigned to The Virtupets Space Station, The Darkest Faerie was assigned to Altador (since he had already ruined Faerieland), Razul was assigned to the Lost Desert, Mr. Krawley was assigned to the Haunted Woods, Captain Scarblade was assigned to Maraqua, Lord Kass was assigned to Meridell, and last but not least (in his ranking in evil, anyway), Galem was assigned to Terror Mountain…

"You got all that?" spoke Lord Cataclysm.

The seven villains nodded.

"Good. Now you all go out there and do whatever evil plans you want at those locations. Just don't fail me, or there will be terrible consequences." Lord Cataclysm warned them, opening up seven portals to different locations.

The seven villains gulped. Apparently even they thought that he was scary. They each decided it would be their best interest to leave the castle as soon as possible.

As soon as they were all gone, Lord Cataclysm grinned with satisfaction. Neopia was going to be a dystopia when he was through with it…although he wasn't sure what he was going to do to with the villains afterwards. Would they get in his way? Or would they continue to obey him? He wasn't sure…

_Meanwhile in Mystery Island…_

"I can't take this anymore! Every time we do something evil, the Heroes of Light come along and beat the dung out of us! It's such a horrific cycle! It's making me peel every hair out of my head!" Snotty screamed.

"On the bright side, that spell that shaman cast on us seems to have worn off." Cinder noted.

"I don't believe Neopets have hair…" Redtooth pointed out.

"You know what I mean! What do you think we should do?" Snotty asked.

"Maybe Villains of Darkness should split up….that way Heroes of Light no stop us." Rocky suggested.

"That's a great idea! The Heroes of Light can't be in seven places at once…" agreed Jennifer.

"Do we have to travel so much? I'm tired." whined Larry.

"Alright then…I'll go to Virtupets Space Station, Redtooth will go to Krawk Island…Rocky will go to the Lost Desert…Jennifer will go to Terror Mountain…Sheldon will go to Meridell…Larry will go to Altador…and Othella will go to the Haunted Woods." ordered Snotty.

The seven villains agreed, and they all went into different directions.

_At Apocalypse Castle…_

Fallenova woke up to find herself on a bed. She wondered where she was. The last thing she remembered was being attacked by Lord Cataclysm in a rage. Apparently he blamed the fact that the Heroes of Light were still on the loose because of her.

She heard the Black Knight come in, and wondered what was going on.

"Are you alright? Lord Cataclysm gave you quite a beating." The Black Knight explained.

"I can see that…you know, I'm starting to wonder about his true intentions…" Fallenova answered.

"What makes you say that?" questioned The Black Knight.

"Well, lately he's been getting infuriated at this group known as the Heroes of Light…simply because they've been getting in his way…I met them once and they didn't seem like bad Neopets…why would they want to oppose us?" wondered Fallenova.

"That is odd." agreed The Black Knight. "While I went to retrieve you while you were unconscious, I saw Lord Cataclysm preparing a summoning ritual. I didn't know what he was up to, but it seemed like a dark ritual to me."

"Now I'm really starting to get concerned. Could it be that Lord Cataclysm is hiding something from us?" the injured Faerie feared.

"I certainly hope not." answered the Grundo in armor.

_At Krawk Island…_

Cherry hopped aboard the pirate ship, curious as always.

Suddenly, she was blocked by two of them wielding cutlasses.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Cherry.

"Listen, if you want to board this ship, you'll have to ask our captain's permission." explained one of the pirates.

"Ask who's permission?" answered a Usul.

"Captain Garin!" the two Pirate Neopets explained.

"So, we have someone that wants to join the Black Pawkeet, eh?" he asked.

Garin looked at Cherry curiously…so far, all the pirates in his group had been male (most notably his friend Jacques)…and he wasn't sure if he wanted her to join.

Eventually, he decided on a compromise.

"I suppose I'll let you join my crew…if you prove to me that you aren't girly." the Usul Captain answered.

What happened next was a contest of sorts...

"First of all, let's see how loud you can burp." the pirate asked, giving her soda and rock candy.

Cherry swallowed them both…

…and let out an enormous burp that shook the entire ship…

"Well, you aced that one alright. Here's the next contest."

The Usul captain then handed Cherry a Spyder, causing many of the pirates to run around the entire ship in fear.

And yet somehow, our Chia hero didn't seem frightened.

"It's just a Spyder." stated Cherry.

Finally, Garin decided to see how good she was with a sword…

…her response was to create copies of herself as usual…which each also had a sword for some reason.

"I'm not sure how you did that…but I suppose you're ready to be part of the crew." Garin noted.

Cherry clapped with delight.

_At Altador…_

Gary decided to visit Altador Castle…he eventually came across the twelve different statues there. Each one was sculpted after a different hero…most notably King Altador for instance.

But there was one statue that made him scared whenever he looked at it…

The statue of the Darkest Faerie, the mistress of nightmares, and one of Gary's many fears.

"I want my mommy!" screamed Gary.

"Do you now?" inquired King Altador.

At Meridell…

Sheldon entered Meridell Castle, eager to warn the king of what was happening.

"Yes, what do you want?" asked the King of Meridell.

"I need to warn you about something horrible approaching! Pretty soon a bunch of Neopets are going to turn evil and begin attacking innocent Neopets…" warned Sheldon.

Unfortunately, King Skarl thought it was a joke, and began laughing hysterically.

"Hahahaha! That was a good one! Here are your Neopoints." King Skarl stated.

A nearby guard gave Sheldon 1000 Neopoints, causing the latter to facepalm.

_At Lost Desert…_

Marvin went up to Sahkmet Palace, hoping to find someone that could help him.

Unfortunately, the castle was currently closed.

"Why me?" wondered Marvin.

_At Terror Mountain…_

Ursula looked around her, and saw what appeared to be a ski lodge.

She immediately backed away from it…who knew if there was another killer cyborg waiting to attack her there?

_At Haunted Woods…_

Desdemona decided to talk to the Brain Tree, and asked him what she should do if the Haunted Woods ever came into crisis.

"If you're ever given a gift Uni, look it in the mouth." the Brain Tree suggested.

Desdemona thought the warning was cryptic, but she decided to listen to him anyway.

_At Virtupets Space Station…_

Bloony looked around to see if there was any spaceship he could use in the future. He read a book on how to pilot one, but that was a while ago.

Plus he didn't even have a license…thankfully there was a Grundo offering to give him an exam nearby.

"Excuse me?" he asked.

"Can I help you?" the Grundo answered.

"I'd like to get a license." Bloony told the space alien.

"Very well. Come this way." he answered.

_It looks like Fallenova and The Black Knight are starting to learn about what Lord Cataclysm really has planned for Neopia…and coincidentally The Villains of Darkness are heading to where The Heroes of Light are currently occupied…what an enormous coincidence huh?_

_In the next chapter…well you'll probably be able to guess what's coming in the next chapter…I can tell you one thing, things will start to get hairy…_


	60. Chapter 60: History Repeats Itself Again

Saving Neopia

_In this chapter, we'll get to see what the Villains of Darkness are up to...and an update on how our heroes are currently doing of course._

**Chapter 60: History Repeats Itself…Again!**

After getting his license from the Grundo, Bloony was ready to go out in space and fight whatever invader was approaching Virtupets Space Station.

Suddenly, he heard what appeared to be an alarm going off. What was going on?

"Danger danger! Red alert! Virtupets space station is under attack!" screamed a robotic voice.

Immediately, the Grundos and the other Neopets began panicking. What were they going to do?

Suddenly, the image of Dr. Sloth appeared on one of the television screens.

"Greetings Neopets. I am here to announce my return after a long absence. As you can see, I intend on taking over Virtupets Space Station…it has become cheerful and entertaining as of late and I plan on correcting that."

Suddenly, several Blumaroo fighters slid down from the ropes and began capturing any innocent Neopet that failed to elude them.

"What am I going to do?" wondered Bloony.

Suddenly, he noticed another one of the Blumaroos slide down from the ropes…only he failed miserably and landed on his face. He seemed somehow familiar…

The Blumaroo immediately noticed Bloony, and screamed in surprise.

"What the heck are you doing here? I went all the way into outer space to prevent you and your friends from finding me and preventing me from causing mischief…and yet somehow you managed to follow me!" he screeched.

Bloony immediately recognized him as Snotty, his evil counterpart in the Villains of Darkness.

"I see that you decided to split your party as well, huh? What a coincidence…" Bloony thought.

Immediately, Snotty pulled out a blaster and began shooting at Bloony.

"Can you believe I'm actually getting paid to do evil things, now? It's really ironic…but why question something I like?" the green Blumaroo told him as he continued firing.

Using his telekinesis, our Blumaroo hero yanked the gun out of his hand and tossed it out the window into the depths of space.

"You jerk!" Snotty screamed, extending his arms to punch Bloony in the face.

"Since when could he do that?" the yellow Blumaroo wondered.

_At an island near Maraqua…_

A bunch of wealthy Neopets were hosting a party. Apparently it was for a baby Lupe, who had just reached his first birthday.

Unfortunately, the party would be crashed by the Black Pawkeet, who wanted to steal anything valuable they could find.

"Alright team, let's take whatever booty we can find, shall we?" ordered Garin.

"I don't know about this captain, we're robbing innocent people here." questioned Cherry.

"Relax, it's not like they're going to need all the money they have." replied Jacques.

Immediately, the pirates began looting the party, taking anything valuable they could find. Suffice to say they would have a lot of Neopoints in the near future.

Cherry herself tried to take a lollipop from the birthday boy, unfortunately this failed when the Baby Lupe decided to bite her in the arm.

"Ow! My arm!" screeched Cherry. She hoped that it wouldn't require medical attention. Thankfully, due to the fact that the Baby Lupe's fangs had only grown in recently, it did not.

After our heroes were done pillaging the island, they got ready to set sail…when all of a sudden it started raining.

"Oh brother. There's probably a storm approaching."

The crew of the Black Pawkeet realized that they had better head back to Krawk Island as soon as possible, as the bad weather could result in the ship sinking.

And so our heroes started sailing home…

_In the Lost Desert…_

Marvin continued to warn every Neopet he could about what was happening. But unfortunately, there were too many Neopets for him to do so.

Deciding to look up, he noticed the sky began turning dark. Something was wrong. Suddenly, various dark creatures began attacking the city…ranging from mummies to giant scarab beetles.

Immediately, the villagers began panicking….it looked like the city was under siege.

Marvin pulled out his guns. It was time for some action.

Little did he know at the moment there was another Neopet who was currently asking the mummies if he could help…

_On the summit of Terror Mountain…_

Ursula came across a dark cave…listening curiously…she overheard several voices…apparently they were talking about invading Happy Valley and taking whatever booty they could find…

She also heard a voice that sounded suspiciously familiar…was one of them an old friend of hers?

She decided that she had better go warn Happy Valley of the impending attack…if she was lucky, perhaps she would find Hannah there.

It seemed as good of an idea as any…

Unfortunately, she had a problem. There was a pack of Snow Beasts sleeping nearby. If she was going to get to Happy Valley, she would have to get through.

She began quietly walking around the Snow Beasts…careful not to wake them up…

When suddenly a white Bori popped out of the snow…apparently he had decided to take a nap as well…how he could tolerate the cold is beyond her…but she had heard that Boris thrived in cold environments.

Immediately noticing the Snow Beasts, he screamed, causing all of them to wake up.

"Now you've done it…" murmured Ursula. She recognized him as Armin, who was Hannah's traveling partner. But if that was Armin, then where was Hannah?

She had no time to search for the Usul treasure hunter however…as the Snow Beasts were trying to corner her and Armin. Apparently they had found their morning snack.

_At Altador…_

"Why is there a statue of the Darkest Faerie here? She gives me the creeps!" exclaimed Gary.

"Well if you must know, she used to be a member of the 12 Heroes of Altador…unfortunately her desire for power got the better of her and she betrayed us…" Altador answered sadly.

"So where is she now?" Gary asked. "I don't want to run into her…"

"Unfortunately, I don't know. I've been searching for her ever since the Darkest Faerie statue went missing. I get the feeling that she may be up to something."

Suddenly, a castle guard came by with a frightened look on his face. "We're under attack!" he screamed.

Immediately, the King of Altador ordered the guard to get the other Heroes of Altador. He got the feeling that this might be the work of a former friend of his…

_In Meridell Castle…_

Sheldon had repeatedly tried to warn everybody in the castle of what was going to happen. Unfortunately, King Skarl continued to believe that everything he was saying was a joke. While he was getting a ton of Neopoints, he began to worry about the welfare of the King.

Eventually, The King reached for his goblet of Mortogberry juice…taking a few sips…

When suddenly he collapsed on the ground.

Immediately, Jeran came up to him to check if he was OK…

…and discovered that the King had been poisoned.

"NOOO!" screamed Jeran. The King of Meridell was dead! Who could have done this to him?

Suddenly, Sheldon remembered what he had been trying to warn the citizens about, and realized that this may be the work of a spy.

But who could it possibly be?

Suddenly, our Skeith hero noticed a rather suspicious-looking Aisha, and decided to head to the castle library.

_In the Haunted Woods…_

Othella was scared out of her mind. Why did Snotty decide to send her here? It was giving her the creeps.

Suddenly, she was approached by a strange-looking Krawk, who asked if she would like to try one of his potions. Apparently they could be used to grant their heart's desire.

Throwing caution to the wind, Othella decided to take a drink…and immediately her appearance became more beautiful than usual.

The Krawk disappeared shortly afterwards, causing her to wonder who he was.

Little did she know that her arch-enemy had witnessed this event…

"I get the feeling this might be what the Brain Tree warned me about…" thought the Dark Faerie.

Suddenly, the Light Faerie spotted our hero, and proceeded to fire a deadly blast of lightning at her.

"Begone, you twisted Dark Faerie!" screamed Othella.

"Not again…" thought Desdemona as she prepared to fight Othella once more.

_Who could have murdered King Skarl? And no, it wasn't Sheldon, in case you're thinking that. Why would he want to do so?_

_Hopefully our heroes will manage to make it out alright…wouldn't want them to get in trouble, now would they?_


	61. Chapter 61: Things Get Worse

Saving Neopia

_In this chapter, our heroes will continue fighting the forces of darkness…unfortunately; it seems that things aren't going well for them…_

**Chapter 61: Things Get Worse**

Bloony continued dueling with Snotty…unfortunately, he seemed to have gotten stronger since their last encounter and he wasn't able to get any advantage against him.

Suddenly, more Blumaroos stormed into the room, along with Commander Garoo, who glared at Bloony immediately.

"So, you're the Blumaroo that's been helping Neopia and saving it from the forces of darkness. You really sicken me…of course, I've never been fond of innocent Neopets to begin with…but you particularly stand out…" Commander Garoo told him.

Immediately, he prepared to fight him. "Well, I can't just let you hang around and spoil my boss's plans, now can I?" he said.

On the way to Bloony, he noticed that Snotty was still trying to fight him…and got annoyed.

"You're in my way." he stated, picking up the not quite as evil Blumaroo and tossing him into the wall, knocking him out cold.

Our Blumaroo hero immediately got concerned upon seeing this. He heard all about Commander Garoo and his many atrocities, and now he was battling him personally. How was he supposed to beat him?

Nonetheless, he decided that in order to save Neopia, Dr. Sloth and his minions had to be stopped, and he immediately lunged into battle.

_At the waters above Maraqua…_

Cherry was beginning to feel seasick. The storm had been raging on and on, and the boat was shaking back and forth.

She wondered how much longer it would be until she and the crew of the Black Pawkeet reached shore. Hopefully it would be soon or she would probably throw up.

Suddenly, they noticed that there was another ship heading towards them…seeing though the sails were black and had skulls on it, our heroine got the feeling that they had bad intentions.

Garin looked at with curiousity himself…and immediately ordered the crew to row the boat away.

But it was too late, as the crew of The Revenge spotted The Black Pawkeet and opened fire, doing severe damage to the large amounts of cannons on the former.

"We're going to sink!" screamed Jacques.

Not long afterwards, the Revenge rammed into The Black Pawkeet. Soon afterwards, the evil pirate crew began boarding the ship, forcing our outnumbered crew into battle.

Cherry herself was valuable at fending off the pirates, but there were simply too many. And to make matters worse, one of them was a Neopet she knew.

"How ironic! It seems that you've joined the Black Pawkeet...which is the natural enemy of my crew The Revenge…but I suppose that's just the way it is. Anyways, it's time for me to have lunch!" her archenemy Redtooth exclaimed, as he began fighting with Cherry. She noticed that he appeared to have poison powers now, which proved to be an unfortunate problem.

Eventually, Garin, Jacques, and Cherry were forced to retreat, but not before the rest of the crew was captured.

Curiously enough, the pirate captain ordered Cherry to put on a necklace (which was awkward, considering that she did not have a neck) and jump into the ocean, a task which she reluctantly obeyed.

They sank deep into the ocean…and yet the Chia curiously was still able to breathe…why wasn't she drowning?

Curiously, she began swimming after Garin and Jacques…were they headed towards Maraqua?

_In the Lost Desert…_

"Rocky crush you, stupid Mynci!" screamed Rocky.

Out of all the places the nerdy Mynci could have encountered his archfoe, this was a particularly surprising moment. Then again he and the rest of the Villains of Darkness seemed to follow his friends everywhere…so maybe it wasn't horribly shocking.

"I'm busy trying to help save a city from monsters here! Can't we save this for another time?" Marvin inquired. He tried to punch his opponent, only for him to turn to stone and cause him to injure his fist.

"Ow! What the-" the heroic Mynci screamed.

"Rocky have new powers now!" squealed the caveman Mynci.

"So do I." the nerdy Mynci answered, using vine powers to tangle up Rocky…but unfortunately he managed to break free rapidly.

Marvin sighed, and continued battling his adversary.

_In Terror Mountain…_

Ursula kept on fighting the snow beasts, but they simply kept on coming. The Bori that had attracted their attention wasn't much help.

Eventually, she began to feel exhausted. Was this her fate? To become lunch for a bunch of Snow Beasts?

Suddenly, out of nowhere, another Usul appeared and began helping fighting the snow Beasts. Ursula recognized her as Hannah…who interestingly enough she had been looking forward the entire time.

"Don't tell me you've gotten yourself in trouble again, Armin…" Hannah stated.

"I'm sorry! Those Snow Beasts were so scary! I panicked!" Armin screamed.

The Usul explorer looked at Ursula. "You even put another Neopet in danger…"

The Heroes of Light member introduced herself to the fellow Usul hero.

"Funny, you seem to have become quite popular yourself lately. I heard that you've been battling this crazy organization known as the Cult of Apocalypse, have you not?" she asked.

Ursula nodded.

"Well, I hope that you could help me put an end to the Thieves' Guild…I heard that they've been gathering together again ever since their leader was defeated…I get the feeling that I'm probably on the top of their hit list."

Ursula agreed to assist the famous Usul, and together they decided to enter the Thieves' Guild…

But not before calling an old friend of Hannah's first.

Unfortunately, our super-strong Usul friend was being spied upon by her archfoe.

"I better tell the Thieves' Guild about this…something tells me they won't be happy…but then again their leader always seem to be in a bad mood anyways…" Jennifer murmured.

_At Altador…_

Gary panicked as usual. What was he going to do? The Twelve Heroes of Altador were probably outnumbered twenty to one considering how terrible the odds are always are against a typical hero…

Curious, he turned invisible and went outside to look at the battlefield…there certainly were a lot of dark minions…

Suddenly, he recognized one of them as the scary short-tempered Tonu that was always trying to charge into him. What was he doing as part of the Darkest Faerie's army?

Suddenly, Cinder sniffed out his presence. Apparently, he had a very good sense of smell…and immediately began firing giant fireballs at the castle.

"Eep!" screamed Gary. Now there was nowhere left for him to hide!

He figured he might as well participate in the battle…even if this would likely involve him ending up in a cemetery…

_At Meridell Castle…_

Sheldon decided to talk to Lisha, figuring she would know what to do. She was currently reading the book "How to Deal with the Loss of a Loved One".

"Why did he have to die?" wondered the geeky Aisha.

"Excuse me?" the speedy Skeith asked.

"Hmm?" replied the Aisha.

"Do you have any books on dispelling illusions?" he asked.

Lisha gave him a book…which curiously enough was one that she had used earlier.

"Thank you." Sheldon gave his thanks.

As he opened the book, he immediately heard snoring…he turned around, and nearly jumped with surprise. It was his archenemy, Larry!

Thankfully, he had not noticed him at the moment…as he was currently sleeping. Still shaken up somewhat, he began reading from the book…

_At Haunted Woods…_

Desdemona and Othella continued fighting each other…as before back in Faerieland Palace, it raged on and on…even after both of them pulled out their wands.

Suddenly, she noticed that Othella appeared a bit…odd.

For one thing, she seemed even more beautiful than normal…and her wings were now sparkling. What was going on?

Suddenly, she remembered the Brain Tree's warning about looking a gift Uni in the mouth…and she got the feeling that a Krawk that had been plaguing the Haunted Woods may be working his magic again…

_Seeing though I haven't updated this story in a while, I figured that I might as well release a new chapter…as usual, I hoped you enjoy it…_


	62. Chapter 62: Turning The Tide

Saving Neopia

_In this chapter, we'll once again get to see how each of our heroes are doing…hopefully they can clean up the mess that Lord Cataclysm has caused…he's caused enough trouble already, hasn't he?_

_By the way, my birthday is coming up on Thursday…so feel free to tell me happy birthday on July 26__th__…_

**Chapter 62: Turning The Tide**

Bloony continued to fight Commander Garoo, but unfortunately it seemed he was a more experienced fighter than he was. As it turns out, he had been in Dr. Sloth's service for years…while our hero had only started fighting the forces of darkness rather recently.

What was he going to do?

"Give it up now, you worthless Neopet! You're only prolonging the inevitable!" barked the commander.

Suddenly, he remembered that he could probably use his telekinetic powers against the evil Blumaroo, and decided to try it against the nasty villain.

"What the-" spoke Commander Garoo as he was suddenly lifted in the air thanks to the weaponized mind powers.

Suddenly, he was smashed against the wall, causing most of his breath to be taken away from him. What was going on? Why did he suddenly fly in the air like that?

"Back me up!" demanded the commander.

Immediately, reinforcements came to assist Dr. Sloth's top enforcer …

But at the moment the resistance stopped by and started fighting. Bloony continued lending his hand (or should we say mind) to the battle, and eventually they were all defeated.

Commander Garoo himself was arrested on the spot, and was taken away to wherever the resistance stored their prisoners.

"Thanks for helping me, you guys." applauded our Blumaroo hero.

"Don't mention it." answered Cylara.

"Dr. Sloth's forces are still on the loose…would you mind helping us out some more?" Gorix asked.

"It's an honor meeting you two in the flesh…so sure." agreed Bloony.

And so the leader of the Heroes of Light, with his friends, went out to stop Dr. Sloth from achieving his plans of world domination.

And yet, he still wondered how his other friends were doing…he hoped that they were all okay…he wondered if they should have split up in the first place…

He suddenly remembered about Snotty…and noticed that he had mysteriously disappeared. Where had he gone off too? Had he woken up during the chaos? Or had he been arrested by the resistance? Either way, he was probably going to see him again…

But for the time being, he wasn't exactly much of his concern, and he went along with the resistance to put an end to the mad scientist that had been plaguing Neopia for far too long…

_At Maraqua…_

Cherry enjoyed being able to swim underwater. There certainly was a lot to see…including fish (both Petpet and Neopet, interestingly enough), seaweed, coral, and of course, a lot of water.

She was glad she had a breathing apparatus in the form of a magical necklace…otherwise she probably would have long drowned by now and ended up sleeping with the fishies.

She went over to the pet shop and noticed a Petpet that looked oddly like her friend Bloony…she decided to buy one and give it to him to see if he enjoyed it. Of course, he wasn't with her at the moment…which caused her to miss him. She wished that she wasn't separated from him at the moment…

Cherry remembered that she had given her pet Porkins to her family for safekeeping…it seemed that she hadn't seen him in a while and wondered if she should go visit him…he probably missed her as well…along with her family too, of course.

But for the time being, she decided that it was probably a good idea to go speak to King Kelpbeard and warn him that Captain Scarblade had returned…knowing him, he was probably planning another attack on Maraqua as she spoke.

In fact, it was probably a good idea to warn him as soon as possible…but unfortunately, there were guards standing in front of the castle, and apparently they weren't going to let her barge in.

"Who goes there?" demanded one of the guards.

"I'm here to speak with King Kelpbeard as soon as possible." answered Cherry.

"Millions of Neopets want to visit the king…you had better have something important to tell him." the guards replied.

"I'm here to warn him about an impending invasion." the Red Chia explained.

"I see…do you have any evidence to prove that?" they asked.

At this point, Cherry realized she was out of luck, and she decided to search for Garin and Jacques. How was she going to warn the king if she was unable to get an audience with him?

Suddenly, she noticed a rather scary-looking fish outside…immediately, Cherry began hiding from it…interesting enough, she noticed that there was an Aisha on its back…she recognized it as Isca…who was King Kelpbeard's daughter…she wondered if she had snuck out of the castle or something…

She then remembered that the fish was known as Goregas…and for some reason he wasn't nearly as vicious as he looked, although nonetheless he could put up quite a fight…

She suddenly got an idea…maybe she could talk to her and see if she could get her inside the castle? That seemed as good of an idea as any.

"Excuse me?" Cherry inquired.

"Yes?" Isca answered.

"I've got something that's rather important for me to tell you…"

"Alright then, speak up."

Cherry explained to Isca what was happening, and that Captain Scarblade was planning to attack the kingdom.

"That's horrible! We need to see him immediately!" exclaimed the Maraquan Aisha.

And so the two of them went back towards King Kelpbeard's Castle…

_In the Lost Desert…_

Marvin and Rocky continued fighting. It was a long battle, and the outcome of it was rather uncertain.

"This taking too long! Rocky want this to end now!" exclaimed the caveman.

"If you want this to end, just stop fighting me…I'm not really interested in hurting you to be honest…" agreed Marvin.

He tried punching Rocky, but unfortunately he turned himself to stone, causing him to bruise his hand.

"Ow!" the Heroes of Light member screamed, who immediately attacked the Tyrannian with vines…but unfortunately he managed to break free shortly afterwards.

Suddenly, a group of Lost Desert guards came by…they must have noticed the battle, because immediately they grabbed both of them.

"You two stop fighting! We have a situation!" exclaimed the guards.

"That's what I've been trying to tell him…but he wouldn't listen." replied Marvin.

The guards decided to let the two of them go, but unfortunately Rocky continued trying to fight the Mynci. Immediately, they struck him on the head and knocked him out cold. One way or another, the fight was finally over.

"We'll have to decide what to do with him later…maybe we should take him to jail or something?" thought one of the guards.

"It seems as good of an idea as any." agreed another one.

Unsurprisingly, our nerdy Mynci decided to volunteer to assist the guards to clean up the mess that was currently unfolding across the Lost Desert. Initially, the guards told him that he should try to shelter himself, but our hero insisted…and went off to battle the mummies.

"I just hope that I don't end up being mummified…" thought Rocky, as he continued fighting them.

_In Terror Mountain…_

"You must be a friend of Hannah, am I right?" inquired Ursula.

"Yes, I suppose I am a friend of Hannah…" answered Kanrik unsurely. He had in fact assisted her in one of her adventures…but that was after he had been betrayed by the Thieves Guild and had in fact betrayed her. It was a rather crazy cycle.

"We really need your help…Hannah here thinks that the Thieves Guild has returned…and naturally you'll probably be one of the first people they target." spoke Hannah.

"I see…well then, I suppose I should help you…" agreed Kanrik.

"Yay! Now we can defeat the Thieves Guild and stop them from driving my species extinct!" yelled out Armin.

"What makes you so sure they're going to do that?" asked Ursula.

Armin scratched his head.

Together, the two of them began marching over to the Thieves' Guild, unaware at that particular moment an even greater threat was going to be awakened soon…

_At Altador…_

"Eat fireballs, you pest!" screamed Cinder as he fired deadly fire projectiles at our cowardly but lovable Grarrl.

"Aah!" screeched Gary as he scrambled to avoid the fiery projectiles. Why did he have to have an adversary that could control fire?

Suddenly, he remembered something important about the fiery Tonu…apparently he wasn't very fond of water.

Immediately, he took a nearby bucket…which unfortunately belonged to the Janitor.

"Hey, that's my bucket! Don't steal from me! Graarghhh!" the Yurble screamed.

"I'm sorry! I need it to take down a fiery Tonu! He's trying to fry me!" Gary explained.

Suddenly, a fireball shot by and struck the janitor.

"Oh no!" shouted our hero.

However, this only served to make him angry. "That does it!" he screamed.

Immediately, he went over to Cinder and tossed a bucket of water on him, dousing him and causing him to emit smoke.

"What have you done to me!" he cried out.

Afterwards, the janitor started beating the evil Tonu on the head with his mop, knocking him out cold.

Gary immediately thanked the janitor for what he had done; who replied by saying "Don't mention it. You might want to get out of here though…there's a battle going on in case you haven't already noticed."

"What about you?" the Grarrl asked.

"I guess I'll stay here…seeing though there are so many combatants things are probably going to get messy…" explained the janitor, pulling out his trusty mop.

"Alright, you can do whatever you want…" agreed Gary.

Reluctantly, our hero decided to continue fighting…thankfully he was quite strong and was usually capable of taking down the Darkest Faerie's minions…

But where exactly was the faerie? Apparently she was still directing the battle…but she had yet to show herself.

Suddenly, lightning struck the castle…the Grarrl wasn't exactly sure what it meant…but it couldn't be anything good…

_At Meridell…_

Sheldon began reading from the book…quietly to make sure that his archenemy Larry didn't wake up…as he did so, he noticed that the citizens seemed to snap out of a trance…was the culprit of King Skarl's murder an enchanter or something?

Suddenly, he noticed a hideous Darigan Aisha…causing him to scream.

"Oh my Neopets admin! What kind of Neopet is that?" shouted the speedy Skeith.

He was tackled to the ground by the member of Lord Kass's army, which unfortunately, was rather a big weakness of his. Apparently, she wasn't happy that he had ruined her evil plans of doom and destruction.

"You'll regret breathing every single word of that spell…you little-"

Suddenly, Lisha pulled out her plastic wand and fired a polymorph spell at the Court Dancer, turning her into a Mortog…which hopefully wouldn't end up in a game of Kiss the Mortog.

"If only I had done that before she murdered the king..." murmured Lisha.

Unfortunately, the commotion woke up the previously sleeping Larry, who knocked the Aisha to the ground and broke her glasses.

"My glasses! I can't see without my glasses!" screamed the female Aisha, who was now blind as a Korbat.

"You again! You woke me up from my nap! You're going to regret that!" bellowed Larry, who immediately began to charge.

Reluctantly, Sheldon decided to fight the Moehog in a crowded library, hoping that it wouldn't end up causing too much destruction.

_In the Haunted Woods…_

Desdemona watched as Othella became more and more beautiful…

Suddenly, the residents of the Haunted Woods took notice, and immediately pounced on top of her.

"Let me go!" screamed the Light Faerie. What was happening?

"Give me your autograph! Hug me! Heck, even touch our hands or something!" they all screeched.

Desdemona rubbed her hand behind her back. How come she didn't get any admirers?

Anyways, she realized that the potion that the Light Faerie had took was probably a beauty potion from Mr. Krawley…which judging from what was currently happening made one so beautiful that people kept tackling her to the ground.

She also realized that Othella's life was probably in mortal peril from her current situation…and decided to cast a spell to reverse it.

Immediately, the Light Faerie became less beautiful, which caused the dozens of fanboys (and surprisingly fangirls) to stop attacking her and decide to look for something else.

"Hmm…you just saved my life…even though you're my enemy…you're a real weirdo, you know that?" inquired Othella.

Desdemona shrugged.

"I suppose I'll let you go this time…but next time, you're mine!" she screeched.

"Fair enough." agreed the Dark Faerie.

Othella teleported away, leaving Desdemona by herself…

Immediately, she became worried. Mr. Krawley was probably giving more people his nasty potions as she idled…and the last time she checked the only cure could be devised by Sophie…immediately she knew what to do.

Suffice to say she flew as far as her wings could take her…at a speed surprisingly similar to Sheldon.

_Phew, this has got to be one of thelongest chapters I've made for this story yet...for this story anyway…_

_Don't forget, my birthday is in two days…so if you want to sing a happy birthday song or something feel free to do so…just don't flood my message box with them, will you?_


	63. Chapter 63: NeoCombat

Saving Neopia

_In this chapter, the Heroes of Light will continue fighting the heroes of Neopia…but of course they're still separated…but not to worry…they'll be back together again in just a few more chapters…we all want to see them back together again, don't we?_

**Chapter 63: Neo-Combat**

Bloony went inside the resistance headquarters, careful to avoid being spotted by Dr. Sloth's evil minions. After all, they wanted the hideout to remain secret and not to fall into enemy hands…as that would jeopardize the safety of all of Neopia.

"You sure have a lot of advanced technology." noted the yellow Blumaroo.

"Believe me, we need all we can get if we want to take down Dr. Sloth." replied Gorix.

"I wonder if he's building a doomsday laser in order to blow up a planet or something…he always seems to be up to something despicable." wondered Cylara.

Suddenly, an alarm sounded. What was going on?

"This isn't good." stated the Cybunny Scout.

"What's wrong?" asked Bloony.

"It seems that Ylana Skyfire and Parlax are here in the Space Station…two of Dr. Sloth's most dangerous minions…" answered Gorix.

"That doesn't sound good." agreed Bloony. "How are we going to stop them?"

"Well, I suggest that one of us go out there and put an end to whatever Dr. Sloth is up to…while the others deal with the evil minions to make sure that they don't get in the way…" answered Cylara.

"I wonder where the Space Faerie is…she always seems to be around whenever the mad doctor is executing another evil plan to rule Neopia." spoke Gorix.

Suddenly, our heroes noticed a blue comet heading towards the Space Station outside the window. Apparently it was her…it looked like she was here to help save all of Neopia and therefore help end the destruction and people getting possessed by darkness.

"Last time I checked she was Dr. Sloth's arch-enemy…so it looks like we've got a pretty good chance of stopping him." pointed out Bloony.

"Then we've got nothing to lose!" exclaimed the Cybunny Scout.

"It's good timing too…I hear they're sending in the Dr. Sloth Clones…he has such a big ego that he builds mechanical versions of himself." agreed Gorix.

"Will the Space Faerie be able to win this time?" wondered Cylara.

And so our heroes went to stop Neopia's arch-enemy and his latest scheme of Neopian world conquest.

As it turns out, Dr. Sloth was busy building a super doom laser that would be capable of destroying the planet's moon…which naturally would throw Neopia into chaos.

"This isn't good…" thought Bloony.

"I knew he was up to something…" murmured Gorix.

"I hope the Space Faerie gets here soon." whispered Cylara.

Suddenly, our heroes were tackled to the ground by Dr. Sloth's evil minions. Apparently they didn't want them to ruin his latest plot just like the Neopians had done so many times in the past.

"You won't interfere with our master's plans!" they screamed.

Naturally, due to the fact that they were simply basic mooks, they didn't cause our heroes any trouble…but unfortunately, they attracted the attention of Ylana Skyfire.

"Dr. Sloth paid me a million Neopoints to ensure that his plan is a success…of course, fighting you isn't worth even a penny…" the villainous Acara stated, firing several deadly laser shots at our heroes.

"Whoa!" screamed Bloony. She certainly was a good shot.

"Did you know she has an article on the Neopedia now? Apparently Skyfire isn't actually her real last name. Anyways…"

Cylara opened fire on Ylana Skyfire, hoping to attract her attention. Naturally, it did.

Gorix and Bloony continued to approach Dr. Sloth, but this time they were interrupted by Parlax.

"Why did you have to join Dr. Sloth, Parlax? He's crazy!" screeched the blue Grundo.

"You simply wouldn't understand." replied the split Grundo.

This unfortunately left our yellow Blumaroo alone to deal with the mad doctor and stop his plans of world domination…at least until the Space Faerie arrived.

"I wonder if I can do it…" thought the leader of the Heroes of Light.

_In Maraqua…_

Soon enough the Maraquan scouts spotting the Revenge straight above the waters of Maraqua…Cherry wondered how they were going to get to the kingdom…last time she checked pirates couldn't exactly breathe underwater…

Suddenly, she remembered something important about Captain Scarblade and his crew…apparently they hated Maraquans so much that it somehow allowed them to breathe underwater…and their ship apparently doubled as submarine of sorts.

Soon enough, the ship went underwater and the pirates began attacking Maraqua…except for Redtooth, who unfortunately couldn't breathe like the other scalawags.

"I'm drowning!" he screamed.

Shrugging, Cherry decided to use one of her sonic burps to send Redtooth flying out of the water…and back onto Krawk Island where The Revenge was usually docked.

"I suppose I couldn't just let him drown...I'm just not that kind of person." thought Cherry.

Even without him interfering, she realized that Maraqua was still for a tough fight. Lord Cataclysm had given Captain Scarblade a map of the city…which would be very useful in finding a way to slip past its defenses and get towards its ruler, King Kelpbeard.

On the bright side, the Maraquans seemed to have the pirates outnumbered somewhat…but due to the pirates' extreme hatred they were having difficulty taking them down.

"These pirates are insane!" one of the warriors screamed.

Eventually, Cherry realized that it would probably be a good idea to try to help the Maraquans…if the city was destroyed, Neopia would surely become significantly more dark and dreary that it already was thanks to Lord Cataclysm…

Immediately, she began creating copies of herself to assist in the battle…after all, the more assistance the fish Neopets had…the better off they would be in the battlefield.

Still, she got the feeling that Captain Scarblade had a secret weapon of sorts in the event the pirates were unable to invade the palace…after all, she doubted that he would repeat the mistakes that he had made when he tried to invade Maraqua the first time.

Her theory was partially confirmed when the captain joined the pirates in the battle, causing the merNeopets to start retreating back to the city. He certainly was a scary Lupe, and not just because of his already fearsome appearance such as his pirate hat and eyepatch.

"To the palace, my fellow pirates! We shall turn the king and all of his royal subjects into sushi!" he bellowed.

"Yes Captain Scarblade!" they screamed. They certainly were excited to have their leader out on the battlefield this time.

Cherry knew that King Kelpbeard would likely want to fight Captain Scarblade personally….but would he be able to win this time? That pirate Lupe was a very cunning creature…

As she continued thinking to herself, she failed to notice an infamous Bruce creeping up to her with a freshly sharpened blade…

_At the Lost Desert…_

Marvin could not have joined the fight at a better time. Razul had summoned all kinds of dark creatures to ruin the city, and was actually considering joining the fight himself.

"How am I going to defeat these monsters?" he thought.

Suddenly, he realized that perhaps he could build a mecha or something that could be used to combat all the dark creatures…of course, he wasn't exactly sure if he could create one that would match the monster known as Razul's power level…but he decided that it was far better than nothing.

The problem was how was he supposed to create a mecha using through improvisation…he knew there was a weapons store nearby…so he decided that would be a good place to start.

He also knew that there was an armor store…so he decided that would also be a good place to go.

And so he started taking the weapons and armor and used it to build a mech…

"I'll put that there…and I'll put that over there…finished!" he squealed.

He then went inside the mecha, and started firing at the dark minions…still, he doubted that it would match up to the power level of Razul because he was so freakishly strong…

And unfortunately he was right…as soon as he showed up on the battlefield, the mech began melting…

"My mech is melting! Melting! Oh what a world!" he screamed.

Razul laughed maniacally as he began trying to burn the Lost Desert to the ground…fire always seemed to be his specialty, but Marvin wasn't quite sure why.

"All of Neopia shall be conquered by me! Anyone that tries to resist shall be burninated!" Razul bellowed.

"This guy's insane." the nerdy Mynci noted.

_At Terror Mountain…_

"We better be careful…this place is filled with bandits…knaves…and all kinds of people you don't want to meet." warned Hannah.

"Right, I'm already aware of that…but I agree with you. We should be careful not to attract their attention." agreed Ursula.

Armin the Bori whimpered. Were they going to get caught? It was a thought that continued to plague his mind as they continued throughout the base.

As it turns out, Galem Darkhand was once again planning to awaken the Bringer on Lord Cataclysm's orders…and once again, he was planning to let an entire species die out of greed.

"I thought he was dead…" wondered Hannah.

"Apparently he wasn't…" murmured Ursula.

"Greetings, my fellow thieves…thanks to this mysterious shapeshifter, I am back from the dead…and I am planning on reawakening the Bringer so that he can wipe out the Bori…why you ask? Because he promised me riches…" answered Galem Darkhand.

Immediately, the thieves were unsure whether they wanted to help the Grarrl. The Bringer was a dark god that wanted nothing more than death and destruction...and had nearly caused the extinction of an entire Neopian species. He was also extremely powerful, and would likely lay waste to Terror Mountain if he was awakened.

"Anyways, he already gave me his sarcophagus…so let's open it, shall we?" agreed Galem Darkhand.

"This is crazy!" screamed one of the thieves.

The leader of the thieves responded by tossing the unfortunate bandit out the window.

"Anyone else?" he asked. The criminals shook their heads.

The purple Grarrl then proceeded to open the sarcophagus…immediately, the entire room was filled with darkness.

Soon enough, the Bringer's mindless minions began appearing…and yet, there was still no sign of the Moehog himself…it seemed that it was going to take some time for him to awaken after all these years…

"I still need a sacrifice to awaken the Bringer…" he explained. None of the thieves wanted to volunteer, naturally.

"You think he was brought back from the dead too?" asked Ursula.

Unfortunately, our heroes were spotted by Jennifer not long after all this occurred…and she immediately informed the other scoundrels about the intruders.

"Attack!" Galem screamed.

Our heroes realized at this point that it would probably be a good idea to run…or failing that, try to fight their way out of the base.

Thankfully, they could see the entrance…and they started to dash out of the cave…when suddenly Armin was grabbed by the leader of the guild himself.

"Perfect…I need a sacrifice to awaken the Bringer…I think a Bori should be more than enough…" he laughed.

Immediately, he threw him at the sarcophagus…which caused a hand to reach out and grab him…soon enough the Bori known as Armin was a goner.

"Noooo!" screamed Hannah.

"You monster!" screeched Ursula, outraged at what the purple Grarrl had done.

Galem simply laughed maniacally, as the Bringer immediately emerged from the coffin.

Hannah and Ursula thankfully managed to escape the base…but they would have to host a funeral for the unfortunate Armin later.

They would have to warn everyone in Terror Mountain about the horrific monster that had been recently awakened…well that and the Thieves' Guild were probably going to loot the city.

_At Altador…_

The Darkest Faerie laughed evilly as soon as she entered the battlefield. Immediately, many of the soldiers on the battlefield ran away from the field. After all, she was the most evil Faerie in all of Neopia…hence her name.

Why was she known as the Darkest Faerie? An easier question would be why wasn't she known as the Darkest Faerie. She had committed horrific deeds…some of which had completely devastated Neopia beyond repair.

And that moment, she was planning to destroy all of Altador…apparently she was no longer content at simply ruling all over it.

King Altador immediately charged towards her…apparently he was the only one brave enough to try to stop her.

Unfortunately, her magic was too strong for the unfortunate King, and immediately he collapsed to a ground when one of her nastier spells hit him. She then let out her trademark evil laugh.

"Please, Darkest Faerie…you don't have to do this…you were once one of the twelve heroes of Altador…" he murmured.

"Not anymore." she stated, firing a lethal spell at King Altador, causing him to die an unfortunate death.

"Why?!" Gary screamed.

With the leader of the Twelve Heroes out of her way, The Darkest Faerie continued walking towards the castle…given the fact that nobody wanted to challenge her…she wasn't exactly in a hurry.

As she did so however, fire began burning in Gary's eyes.

"She killed the leader of the Heroes of Altador…she's going to pay!" he screamed.

Immediately, he began plotting a way to defeat the Darkest Faerie. He couldn't let her get away with what she had done.

_At Meridell…_

"You're the one who's going to take a nap when I'm through with you." taunted Larry.

"Why do you work for the Villains of Darkness, anyway? Surely you'd rather be sleeping." suggested Sheldon.

"Because, they never ask me to do much, and whenever I dream, I dream of destruction." replied Larry.

"Ok….." answered Sheldon, who continued fighting Larry…

Despite being rather sluggish, the Moehog was a rather dangerous opponent…as he was very good at counterattacking and was strangely now capable of healing himself. Also, being around him made Sheldon feel rather sleepy himself.

But eventually, he was able to thwart his archenemy by trapping him under a bookcase.

"Let me out!" he screamed.

"How about no." replied the Skeith.

Afterwards, he ran over to Jeran, who was busy rallying soldiers to once again attack Darigan Citadel…

"Be warned, Lord Kass is extremely dangerous…he sold his soul to the Three and now he's gone completely insane." spoke the Lupe Commander.

Curious, Sheldon raised his hand.

"Yes?" Jeran asked.

"Can I help?" the heroic Skeith suggested.

"Alright, but be careful. I don't want you to be killed." warned the Lupe.

Sheldon nodded.

_At the Haunted Woods…_

Immediately, Desdemona noticed Mr. Krawley giving several unsuspecting Neopets some of his nasty potions…

"Stop!" she screeched.

The Neopets looked at her with curiousity…

Suddenly, Mr. Krawley began running away…apparently, he was trying to lure the meddling Faerie into a trap…had Lord Cataclysm warned him about the Heroes of Light?

She began flying away…trying to stop the Krawk from giving more innocent Neopets his deadly potions.

"Boy, for an evil Dark Faerie she's awfully pretty." said a curious Bruice.

"You sure she was evil?" replied a Cybunny.

"Meh, who knows." answered a Kougra.

Immediately, she pursued him into a local cemetery…but unfortunately, the local gravestones had come to life.

"I hope I don't end up in the graveyard once this is all over." thought Desdemona.

Thankfully, due to the fact that she could fly, the gravestones were unable to attack her, and she continued towards the forest.

Unfortunately, the trees were also alive, and began throwing fruit at Desdemona. Apparently they were more dangerous than the pitiful tombstones.

But, they weren't overly dangerous overall, as she was able to set them on fire with one of her spells. She just hoped that Smokey the Bearog wouldn't catch her doing so…he was always rambling about Neopets being the only ones to stop forest fires…and he was always hanging out in a random forest.

Finally, she approached him at a local mansion.

"Stop what you're doing! This is crazy!" she bellowed.

"Oh is it now?" he replied, summoning several dark shadows to attack her…

"How am I going to attack them?" she thought. Given the fact that they were shadows, they were probably going to be resistant to her dark magic.

Mr. Krawley laughed maniacally.

"Did I mention I'm going to pour my potions into the local water supply, lovely? Lord Cataclysm suggested it to me…soon every Neopet will be experiencing their effects…" Mr. Krawley stated.

"What? You fiend!" she yelled.

She realized right then and there that he had to be stopped or Lord Cataclysm would score a major victory…and he had already scored one by destroying Faerieland and turning Queen Fyora to stone.

Suddenly, a shadow swiped at her, causing her to get back to reality. She fired a spell at it…which fortunately neutralized it…but unfortunately more of them were coming…and some of them were merging together to create even more deadly shadows.

How was she going to defeat them all?

_This is probably the longest chapter I've ever written in my fan fiction history…did you know it's nearly 3000 words long? I must be getting better at writing fan fiction if I can write such a long chapter…_

_Anyways, I plan on wrapping up this saga in just a few chapters…I don't think I have long to go…_

_And after this, we'll be approaching the final arc…you've probably been looking forward to that, haven't you? Granted I've only been working on this fanfic for a year so I don't think I need to be in that much of a history…_

_In the next chapter, expect some more action…hopefully our heroes will be able to clean up the latest mess that Lord Cataclysm has caused…he's caused enough trouble already, hasn't he?_

_So, farewell I guess…and I'll see you later._


	64. Chapter 64: The League of Villains

Saving Neopia

_In this chapter, our heroes will get to take on the most dangerous villains in Neopian history…will they survive? Will evil prevail? And will this story ever come to an end? Hopefully these questions will be answered in due time…_

_It certainly has been a long story…and the chapters seem to be getting longer as well. Come to think of it, maybe I should make these summaries shorter…but then again, maybe you want to read another long chapter for a change…after all, this story isn't that long…granted, by the time it's finished it's probably going to be 100,000 words long or so…but still._

_Personally, I feel like I'm getting more skilled at writing…granted, you seemed to have enjoyed this fanfic to begin with judging by all the reviews I've gotten lately…but it's still a good thing, am I right?_

_So, let's begin this chapter, shall we?_

**Chapter 64: The League of Villains**

Dr. Sloth was so happy. In fact, he was as happy as he could be. Today was the day he would get to finally get to turn everyone in Neopia into mutants. The world would be such a wonderful place once all of its inhabitants were hideously ugly. Of course, that was just his opinion. And judging from all the Neopets and Faeries in the world that wanted to stop him, it seemed like a rather personal one.

But he didn't really care what Neopia thought about all his evil plans, he just enjoyed being evil and wanted to concoct an evil scheme that would make him infamous throughout the galaxy…granted, he was already infamous to begin with…but once he succeeded he would be even more so.

"Yes…soon Neopia will become Slothpia…and I will rule the world!" laughed the mad scientist.

"You're a really cliché villain, you know that? And I thought the Villains of Darkness were unoriginal." Bloony told him.

Dr. Sloth turned to the Neopet that was standing in front of him. He recalled Lord Cataclysm warning him about six Neopets and one faerie that would try to interfere with his evil plans, and sure enough there was one of them standing right in front of him.

"What do you mean by that?" asked Dr. Sloth.

"Oh please! You've probably been evil ever since you were a baby! All the Neopets say that you're a self-made orphan…I don't really know what to think of that but you really make me roll my eyes." the yellow Blumaroo told him.

"I'm not unoriginal! I have an excuse!" the evil scientist contradicted.

"Alright, tell me why you decided to turn to the dark side." Bloony asked.

"Because…a Neopet ate my lunch once." Dr. Sloth told the heroic Blumaroo.

Bloony's response was rather sarcastic. "I see…"

"As you can see, young Blumaroo, I have just perfected a giant laser that will turn everyone in Neopia into repulsive mutants! And seeing though you are currently with me, I think I'll test it out on you!" the villain explained.

"You'll have to hit me with it first." our hero replied.

And so a rather humorous battle began with the Blumaroo and mad doctor, as the former continued dodging the laser and the latter kept trying to hit him.

"Hold still, why don't you?" he demanded.

"You should have included an auto-targeting feature." Bloony suggested.

It continued on and on, with our hero trying to get behind him so that he could launch a counterattack. Eventually, he succeeded, and started trying to shove Dr. Sloth off the device.

"Get off me, you pest!" he exclaimed.

"Only if you say please!" replied Bloony.

Unfortunately, Dr. Sloth was eventually able to shake him off (it wasn't easy, as he had a good grip), and tossed him right in front of the laser where he would be able to shoot him at point-blank range.

"Well, dung." he complained. He wondered what he was going to look like once he became a mutant. He certainly would be ugly, that was for certain.

Suddenly, a blue light shot towards Dr. Sloth, and instantly destroyed the machine.

"What the-" Dr. Sloth stated.

As it turns out, the Space Faerie had arrived, and she was here to stop Dr. Sloth.

"Noooo! My evil plan has been ruined! I'll get you for this!" Dr. Sloth exclaimed. Immediately, he drank a potion…and almost instantly he turned into a mutant himself…which unfortunately had rather large muscles.

"Bring it on, you two!" he shouted in a deep and booming voice.

"This might be difficult." stated the Space Faerie.

"No kidding." agreed Bloony.

_Under the sea where the city of Maraqua existed…_

"Yer mine, ye pathetic landlubber!" Benny the Blade exclaimed.

"What the-" Cherry thought.

Immediately, she found herself dodging sword after sword strike, as the hateful Bruce repeatedly tried to cut her down. Unfortunately, due to his extreme speed, Cherry wasn't able to fight back. In fact, she was already sweating horribly.

It was pretty clear that things weren't looking too good for her. Was she going to end up sleeping with the fishes?

"Ye should have joined The Revenge, matey." taunted Benny.

"Is that so?" answered a Maraquan she immediately recognized.

"Swordsmaster Talek!" waved the red Chia.

Immediately, it was Benny's turn to be outmatched. Swordsmaster Talek's swords immediately cut through the pirate's knife, leaving him defenseless.

"I surrender! Please don't hurt me!" the Bruce cowardly demanded, as he dropped to his knees.

"I had a feeling that he was a coward." Talek muttered.

Immediately, Cherry had her clones take Benny away to the Maraquan jail, where thankfully he remained for the rest of the story instead of breaking out like the Villains of Darkness always did.

"Thanks for helping me." Cherry gave her gratitude.

"Don't mention it…but I wonder how our friend Garin is doing. Have you seen him?" Talek asked.

Suddenly, they heard a scream. As it turns out, the pirate Usul had tried dueling with Captain Scarblade, and he had lost. His sword had unfortunately lodged to a nearby rock, so even if he tried swimming away from the captain he would still be in troubled waters.

"Ye lose, ye barnacle. Now prepare to enter Davy Jones' Locker!" exclaimed the purely evil pirate captain.

"Noooo!" screamed Jacques, who swam in front of them at the last second.

Immediately, he was stabbed by Captain Scarblade…and not long afterwards…he died.

Garin screamed in rage. "You killed my first mate Jacques! You son of a Jetsam!"

The pirate captain simply laughed…until he noticed that he and his crew were once again losing. Furious at their incompetence, he decided to leave Maraqua for another day…however; he had quite a consolation prize to make up for it…

Immediately, the pirates that were currently engaged in battle with the Maraquans began swimming away…while a few of them were caught, most of them managed to elude their grasp.

"Aw barnacles!" they screamed.

But nonetheless, they decided to head back to Maraqua to celebrate…until they realized something important.

During the battle, Captain Scarblade had taken many of the Maraquans prisoner…which was rather unusual given how cruel he was. What was he up to?

They immediately informed King Kelpbeard, who had his scouts determine where they were headed. Oddly, they were sailing towards a giant whirlpool…what were they up to?

Suddenly, Cherry determined exactly what they were planning.

"We have to pursue them! Now!" she screamed.

And so our underwater heroes ventured forth to stop Captain Scarblade's wicked plan he had in store for his many prisoners.

Would they stop him in time?

_At the Lost Desert…_

Marvin couldn't help but shake the feeling he was doomed. Razul was already burning Sahkmet to the ground, and he got the feeling that it was simply a preview of what he had planned for the rest of Neopia.

He decided that he might as well spend his last moments doing one of the things he loved, playing video games. He pulled out his Neotendo 64 and started checking to see if he had any cartridges in his pockets.

Unfortunately, he had only brought one video game with him…and it was the abomination known simply as Judge Hog…or as other Neopets called it Judge Hog 64.

"Not this game." complained Marvin.

Judge Hog 64 had a rather simple plot. What happened was that his arch-enemy Rex Ruthor (a greedy Skeith who curiously did not have superpowers but was extremely dangerous nonetheless) had trapped his friends in an alternate reality and that in order to save them he had to solve his labyrinth or something like that.

Unfortunately, the Defenders of Neopia interfered with the production of the game, and eventually they had to release it while it was unfinished.

Not long afterwards, critics gave it horrible reviews, and eventually, it became known as one of the worst games of all time.

"I can't play this! This game is pure evil!" screamed Marvin.

"Burn you filthy Neopets!" squealed the demented fire lord.

Immediately, the Mynci stuck Judge Hog 64 into the controller and began playing the game. He immediately said some rather nasty things as he had to deal with the horrible controls and the various glitches while he tried to traverse through the rings.

"Why did the developers decide to include so many rings? I can't even get past the first level!" screeched the green Mynci.

Eventually, he got stuck under a bridge, causing Judge Hog to move his hands back and forth at a rapid pace like he was rubbing something. What was going on?

"What is he doing? It looks like he's…Aargh my eyes!" the Mynci screamed.

After he finally got past the rings, our Mynci received his next mission, to prevent two cars from running over innocent Neopets. Unfortunately, the text was too fast, and therefore he had no idea what to do.

Before long, he received a simple message that became overly popular throughout the Defenders of Neopia's fanbase.

REX WINS.

"Dang nabbit!" he screamed, letting out a wild Mynci screech. "This game stinks! It stinks more than my dad's gym socks!"

Afterwards, much to his frustration, he had to start over and once again had to traverse through the rings. Why didn't they include more checkpoints in the game? Oh, that's right, because the Defenders of Neopia killed the game.

"No wonder Neopets hate this game so much! This is the worst game I have ever played!" he yelled. Why did people always have to create horrible games? He recalled the other day where he played J.T the Extraneoterrestial for the Irata 6500. He heard that it was so bad that it led to a collapse in the video game market and that the unsold cartridges were buried in a landfill.

He wondered what horrible video game he would next come across. Then he remembered that he was going to die and that thankfully he wouldn't have to play any more lousy video games.

Soon enough, Razul arrived, and his presence incinerated the Judge Hog 64 cartridge.

"Oh thank Fyora! Put me out of my misery!" he exclaimed.

The dark lord prepared a fireball to destroy Marvin, and immediately launched it at the unfortunate (or fortunate) Mynci.

"Look out!" Jazan exclaimed, who set up a shield to reflect it.

"Thanks, I think." Marvin stated.

Not long afterwards, Razul fired a beam of fire at Jazan, who immediately countered with his own beam.

Who would win the battle?

"Now this is way better than Judge Hog 64." stated Marvin, who eagerly began watching the battle.

_At Terror Mountain…_

After warning everyone in Terror Mountain about what was currently happening, our heroes decided they were probably better off trying to stop The Bringer and Galem themselves, considering how strong Kanrik and Ursula were.

They decided to enter the cave where the Boris had been hibernating, since that was where the dastardly duo had gone last time. Unfortunately, it was guarded.

"Sorry, old friend. No entry!" Jennifer taunted.

"I guess we'll be doing breaking and entering." Ursula joked.

Once again, the heroine and villainess got into a Kadoatie-fight, with a bunch of kicking and scratching between the two girls.

"Quit biting me!" Jennifer complained.

"Stop scratching me!" demanded Ursula.

Eventually however, Kanrik decided to break it up…and he defeated Jennifer almost instantly.

"You certainly are tough, aren't you Kanrik?" asked Hannah.

"You should have seen me at the Battledome…" Kanrik replied.

Our heroes went through the caves, battling the various thieves and the ice minions the Bringer had created…

On the way there, they met someone that was…acquainted with Kanrik.

"Hello Kanrik." greeted Masila.

"Hello Masila." greeted Kanrik.

"You two know each other?" asked Hannah.

Immediately, Masila tried to stab the unfortunate Usul with a knife.

"Stop!" Ursula exclaimed, pushing her out of the way.

"Leave her out of this, Masila." demanded Kanrik.

Reluctantly, she stepped aside.

"Now then, can you tell me where Galem and the Bringer are headed?" he asked.

Masila pointed to deeper in the mines…

"Yes, of course…" the Gelert thought.

Soon enough they found Galem and the Bringer standing next to the Heart of the Mountain. The giant Moehog was charging a spell…that apparently would end up melting the entire mountain considering how deep they were inside. The greedy Grarrl tried to steal the Heart of the Mountain, but The Bringer grunted, reminding him that Lord Cataclysm wanted him to have it so that he could wreak even more destruction using its mysterious powers.

"Right, Lord Cataclysm insisted that you should have it." he replied sarcastically. Why couldn't he have the Heart of the Mountain?

"Stop right there!" Hannah yelled.

"You're too late." Galem stated. Immediately, the snow around them began melting…and our heroes began to hear shaking…there was an avalanche!

"It must be heading straight towards Happy Valley!" screamed Hannah.

The purple Grarrl laughed maniacally. "Once the Bringer is finished, my guild and I shall loot whatever is left of the city…and we shall be rich!"

"Not if I have anything to say about it." contradicted Kanrik, who immediately threw several sharp knives at him.

"What?! You again! This time, I will not lose!" he bellowed. Immediately, he charged towards the Gelert, and soon enough they got into a battle for the ages as the two Neopets wrestled each other. It surely belonged on national television, and was advisable to be watched with popcorn and butter because everyone knows popcorn with butter was delicious.

…but as before, Kanrik managed to win, this time by pinning him to the ground…apparently; Galem hadn't gotten any stronger since they had last met while the Gelert had taken some vitamins.

Desperate, the wicked Grarrl decided to look for the Bringer for assistance…

"Help me…" he weakly stated.

Unfortunately however, The Bringer instead decided to knock Kanrik out of the way, grab the thief lord, and drain the unfortunate Grarrl completely of life. After all, casting an enormous spell was exhausting…and now that Galem had awakened him Lord Cataclysm didn't exactly need the Grarrl anymore.

"Wow." thought Ursula.

And to make matters worse, The Bringer had knocked out Kanrik, so they no longer had him to help.

"We have to stop him!" Hannah exclaimed.

"But how? The Bringer is a juggernaut! Our attacks won't even faze him!" Kanrik exclaimed.

Suddenly, they noticed the Heart of the Mountain was still there, and they suddenly got an idea.

_At the Altador Battlefield…_

Gary wondered how the Darkest Faerie would ever be stopped. The last time he had checked she was practically unstoppable. The only way he knew how to stop her was to turn her into a statue…but how was he ever going to do that? It wasn't like he was related to Medusa…

"I've got to stop her from hurting any more people! But how?!" he thought.

Curious, he decided to examine the treasury to see if there was any magical items he could use…sure enough he saw Jerdana's Orb…he wasn't exactly sure what it was doing there…but he remembered that it could be used to defeat The Darkest Faerie…he just had to put it onto the wicked faerie somehow.

"Well, isn't this just my lucky day…granted, saying that might be a stretch considering I'm meeting my worst fear in the flesh…but what to do now?" he wondered.

And the only way he could think of to do so was to turn invisible and try to sneak up on her…would it work? Would he succeed? He decided it was as good of an idea as any.

"Let's do this…and hope I don't end up getting killed." he murmured.

Trying to be as quiet as possible and ignoring the destruction and chaos unfolding out on the battlefield as the dark Faerie slowly walked towards the castle and the situation became increasingly grim.

Being as cautious as he could, Gary attempted to place the orb on the Darkest Faerie…

When suddenly she grabbed him and fired a blast of magic at the orb, causing it to shatter to pieces.

"Did you really think I was that stupid?" she asked.

"Um, of course not!" whimpered the frightened Grarrl.

How was Gary going to stop her now that the orb was destroyed? He doubted that he would be able to repair it considering how many pieces it was now in.

The Darkest Faerie laughed maniacally, as she began draining the life out of the unfortunate Grarrl. Why did dark magic have to be so powerful?

"Now that I've finally destroyed that horrible orb…there is nothing that can possibly stop me…" she declared.

_At Darigan Citadel…_

Our heroes had arrived at the floating citadel after a brief flight…immediately the felt a sense of dread as they approached the haunted fortress.

They knew making it to Lord Kass would not be easy. All around them his soldiers were busy searching for intruders…there had to be a way to escape detection, but how?

Sheldon thought and thought, and suddenly he got an idea.

As fast as he can, he began circling around the guard towers, trying to get their attention.

"What's going on? I could have sworn I saw some-there he is again! Now wait, he's gone…wait, there he is again! What is goi-"

Suddenly, the unfortunate guard passed out from extreme dizziness. Apparently, Sheldon was too fast for the Eyries to watch properly.

Sheldon continued using this tactic to allow the other heroes through, and eventually they were at the front door.

"Come on out, Lord Kass, and face justice for your horrible crimes!" Jeran demanded.

Soon enough, the door opened, and the dark Eyrie revealed himself.

"You wish to fight me, correct? You and what army?" he said.

Immediately, his various soldiers and war machines revealed themselves…and it became apparent to the soldiers they were vastly outnumbered.

Kass laughed maniacally. Soon Meridell would fall…and then he would move on to conquer the rest of Neopia…

It looked like being resurrected by Lord Cataclysm was the best thing that had ever happened to him…

Sheldon simply sighed. "It looks like my journey is about to reach its end." he thought. He had been fighting evil for so long…would it finally overpower him?

_At the Haunted Woods…_

Unfortunately for Desdemona, it seemed that Mr. Krawley's shadow beings and other dark creatures were simply too much for her. Granted, she was rather proficient in magic herself, but there were simply too many of them, and she was just one Faerie.

Fortunately, she received help from the most unlikely source…

Immediately, a burst of light appeared, and began overpowering the monsters that he had created. Unfortunately for them, it became apparent they were weak against light due to the fact they were created from dark potions.

"Othella, you came to help me?" asked Desdemona. What a surprise this turned out to be.

"As much fun as it would be to get in a Kadoatie fight with you…I figured that I wanted revenge on Mr. Krawley for what he did to me." she explained to her.

"I see…" Desdemona answered.

Mr. Krawley was shocked by the turn of events, but eventually he decided that it was time to take matters into his own claws.

"You wish to stop me from poisoning the water supply, am I correct? Well, go ahead and try…I've got plenty of potions to spare…" he challenged.

Our heroine and villainess were in for a tough fight…

_And here I thought that the last chapter I had written for this story was longer than usual…granted, this one is not much bigger than the previous one, but still…_

_Hopefully in the next chapter our heroes can defeat the League of Villains and stop their evil plans before they destroy everything and whatnot…after all, everyone hates it when the bad guy wins, don't they?_

_What exactly is Captain Scarblade planning? How will Gary stop The Darkest Faerie now that Jerdana's Orb has been destroyed? Will Marvin have to play another horrible video game? And will Ursula stop Happy Valley from becoming Buried Valley? Tune in next time…_


	65. Chapter 65: End of the Villains

Saving Neopia

_In this chapter, we'll get to wrap up a rather long plot arc…and also get to see how some of our other characters are doing…suffice to say this is going to be the longest chapter yet…of course then again you might not notice…_

_The chapters have suddenly gotten longer all of a sudden, haven't they? Of course it helps that I'm leaving so much commentary…then again it might not be that much commentary for all I know…_

_But you've all been waiting to see an ending to this arc, shall we? Well there's going to be an epilogue…so whether or not the arc ends here is a personal opinion of sorts I guess…_

_Now then…let's watch what happens to our heroes…and our villains, and see if the Leagues of Villains shall be destroyed._

**Chapter 65: End of the Villains**

Even with Space Faerie's help, Bloony was having a hard time taking the mutated creature that Dr. Sloth had become down. For one thing, it was capable of regenerating…and it also was superstrong.

He had tried lifting Dr. Mutant Sloth with his telekinesis, but unfortunately the scientist was also quite heavy. He could only lift him a few feet before setting it back on the ground…therefore he wasn't hurt very much.

The Space Faerie was proving to be a powerful fighter, but Dr. Sloth was rather powerful as well in this state. In fact, it appeared that they were currently evenly matched.

He decided to see how his friends were doing. As it turns out, Cylara and Gorix weren't making much progress either. Ylana Skyfire and Parlax were keeping them on their toes. He wondered if the battle was ever going to end…when suddenly he got an idea.

Curious, he decided to check out some of the formulas Dr. Sloth had been experimenting with. Apparently, one of them was being used to create the mutants…but there were also others. Thankfully, Bloony was smart enough to read the labels so that he could figure out which was which.

He eventually discovered a potion that could make the drinker super-strong…he decided to give it to Gorix.

"Fetch!" Bloony demanded.

The Grundo did as he was asked, and immediately he drank the potion in one gulp. Suddenly, he started to resemble a Mutant Grundo…but he still had the same face, curiously enough.

Soon afterwards, he started to gain the upper hand on Parlax. Apparently he wasn't doing so well now that his opponent was ten times stronger.

In fact, Gorix eventually managed to grab the split Grundo by the neck, causing him to squeal and beg for mercy.

"Why Parlax! You were my friend! In fact, we were practically brothers!" Gorix stated.

"I'm sorry! I chose the dark side! I was powerhungry! Please forgive me!" Parlax cried out.

"I suppose I can't stay mad at you…but still!" the blue Grundo exclaimed.

"Can we just go back to being friends? To be honest, my heart really isn't to being with Dr. Sloth anymore…his evil plans were too crazy for my taste. And I'm starting to feel guilty about everything I'm done…I've done a lot of bad things." The split Grundo asked.

"Alright…but you had better help me take down the rest of his soldiers…they're probably wreaking havoc throughout the Space Station as we speak." agreed his childhood friend.

And so the two of them decided to bury the intergalactic hatchet.

Bloony then looked for something that Cylara could put to use. Suddenly, he discovered a potion that would temporarily turn the drinker to metal and make them bulletproof…it sounded like a plan.

He gave the potion to the Cybunny, who immediately became immune to Ylana Skyfire's attacks…she used this to her advantage and tackled Ylana Skyfire to the ground.

"Noooo! All I wanted was money!" she screamed.

"Yes…and you did terrible things just so you could obtain it." Cylara stated. Giving her a swift punch, she knocked her out cold. She then tied her up and then radioed her comrades so that they could send the wicked Acara to the intergalactic prison.

Now all that was left was helping the Space Faerie…he wondered if there was any potion that would assist her…

Suddenly, he found one that seemed just perfect for the current situation…

Throwing it with all his might, he poured it all over the Space Faerie.

"What was that for?!" she screamed in frustration.

Suddenly, she started to feel a little odd…and soon enough she began growing…until she nearly hit her head on the ceiling…which thankfully was about twenty feet or so above their heads.

"Uh-oh." murmured Dr. Sloth.

Immediately, she picked up the mad scientist…and threw him straight out of the space station, causing him to scream like a little girl as he was sent flying into the soul-sucking darkness of space.

The Space Faerie turned back to normal shortly afterwards…either due to the fact that Faeries can shrink in size or simply because the potion had temporary effects.

"I hope he's going to be OK…he may have been evil but I didn't want him to meet a gruesome end…" Bloony said.

"He'll be fine. He's gone through worse." The Space Faerie replied.

"Um, Space Faerie, you might want to go clothes shopping in the future." the Blumaroo tried to sugarcoat the situation.

"What?!" the Faerie exclaimed. As it turns out, her outfit was heavily tattered…to the point that she loosely resembled Eithne the Fire Faerie.

Immediately, she began to blush.

"I'm sorry! I didn't know this was going to happen! I swear! I hope you can forgive me!" Bloony exclaimed.

"All is forgiven…just try not to look at me too much, will you? It's making me uncomfortable…" The Space Faerie answered.

"Alright, I'll try to avert my eyes." the Blumaroo agreed.

_At least for the time being…the Space Station is safe…_ Bloony thought. He then realized that he should probably try to reunite with his friends…he decided to head back to Neopia Central so that he could try to contact his friends and see if they had accomplished their mission like had done.

_At the oceans above Maraqua…_

Cherry was trying to catch up to the Revenge…but unfortunately her stubby arms made it somewhat difficult to swim.

"Dang it! I wonder if I should purchase a morphing potion in case I want to go swimming later…" the red Chia thought.

Thankfully however, the Revenge had stopped…right in front of the enormous whirpool. She got the feeling that whoever went inside would get swallowed and therefore be paying a visit to the Faerie of Death.

Captain Scarblade had carefully stopped his ship so that it wouldn't end up in the dark depths…but he was still close enough that anyone that went overboard would get swallowed inside. His sailors had done well.

"Any volunteers?" asked the captain sadistically.

One of the Maraquan prisoners began whimpering.

"I know! I'll start with ye!" the captain yelled.

Immediately, two of the pirates picked up the unfortunate Koi and tossed him into the whirlpool, causing him to get swallowed up to who knows where.

Immediately, the Maraquans began to panic. Any one of them could be next!

Unbeknownst to them, the Koi had actually managed to escape the whirlpool (even among Maraquan standards, he was a good swimmer) and was heading back to Maraqua…but he would still be traumatized for life.

"Who's next?" the pirate thought.

Suddenly, he noticed a baby crying, and decided that he would be perfect for the next victim.

Immediately, the pirates realized what he was planning and tried to get him to stop, but he ignored them and grabbed the infant anyway.

"This baby will be visiting Davy Jones' locker, me hearties!" laughed the evil captain.

Suddenly, he was shot by a blast from King Kelpbeard's Trident, causing him to lose his footing and let go of the baby, causing the tyke to thankfully end up back in his mother's arms.

"You won't be executing any prisoners today, Scarblade!" he bellowed.

"Ah King Chubbybeard, I've been looking forward to hanging yer head on me ship for a long time…" the hateful pirate taunted.

King Kelpbeard turned red with rage. He had been dieting just yesterday!

Immediately, he and some of the Maraquans began boarding the ship and trying to rescue the hostages. Others were trying to sink the ship.

"I wouldn't try that if I were you, me hearties! In case ye haven't noticed, we're in the middle of a deadly whirlpool! One wrong move and yer dead meat!" the captain exclaimed.

Immediately, they became nervous. Would they end up being swallowed in its depths?

"King Kelpbeard, can you seal the whirlpool?" Cherry asked.

"Only for a brief time, unfortunately. I'll do my best." the old king agreed.

Immediately, using the power of his majestic trident, he managed to seal the whirlpool so that the Maraquans wouldn't have to worry about it…at least until the magic wore off. Then they would be in trouble.

"Charge!" ordered the king.

What happened next was an epic battle between the Maraquans and the pirates…well, the ones that hadn't gotten themselves captured, anyway.

All the while, Captain Scarblade and King Kelpbeard dueled each other…once again, it was a close fight.

"Give it up, ye dog!" the captain demanded.

"Never!" bellowed the benign ruler.

It was an interesting swordfight…or more specifically a sword and trident fight. Once again, it was one that deserved to be watched with popcorn and butter.

Unfortunately, Captain Scarblade had a trick up his sleeve. Apparently, he didn't want to lose the battle just like he had done previously.

"Say hello to me little hearty!" laughed the evil captain, as he pulled out his secret weapon.

"No…not that…" whimpered the king.

It was a Bent Fork, the king's one weakness! Immediately, King Kelpbeard's trident bended, and Captain Scarblade easily knocked it out of his hand.

"Time for ye to walk the plank, straight into the depths of Davy Jones' Locker!" the evil captain squealed.

"Noooo!" Cherry yelled. What was she going to do?

Well, for one thing, she was rather thirsty after seeing all the water around her and being unable to drink it due to the fact that it was salty, so she decided to have a drink.

However, the drink turned out to be soda, and she let out a rather enormous burp…that sent Captain Scarblade flying…leaving him dangling on the edge of the pirate ship…just as the whirlpool suddenly reappeared.

"Leave him be, he deserves this for what he did to my friend." suggested Garin.

But Cherry was too nice for that, and decided to give Captain Scarblade her hand…or stubby appendage rather.

However, as it turns out, Captain Scarblade valued his hatred more than his own survival. He let go and almost immediately got swallowed into the whirlpool, where he met his watery demise.

Suffice to say, the Maraquans were ecstatic.

"Hooray! We won!" squealed the fish people.

The pirates were upset that their leader was deceased…and soon after Garin sailed the ship back towards Maraqua so they would stand trial for their crimes.

Interestingly enough, the pirate Usul asked if Cherry wanted to go on a date with him and/or continue being a member of the Revenge…but she respectively declined.

"I'm already with someone else. It was fun being a pirate but I'm already part of a group of heroes." Cherry explained.

"Very well then. Until we meet again! Farewell!" he stated.

Speaking of her friends, she wondered how they were currently doing, Bloony especially. Were they OK? Was he OK? Was Neopia ever going to be in peace?

_At the Lost Desert…_

Jazan was still fighting his father in a beam battle with Razul, and it was looking fierce. Marvin wondered if he would end up being vaporized if he stood too close to the beams.

"I better not risk it." he thought. He didn't have life insurance!

Unfortunately, it appeared that the fire lord was slowly winning the fight. Jazan's beam was getting smaller…and Razul's beam was getting bigger…

"Give it up my son, you will never win!" the dark lord taunted.

"I beat you once, I can do it again!" shouted his son.

"It's hard to believe these two are related." thought Marvin.

Suddenly, it became apparent to the Mynci that maybe he could assist Jazan…after all, if he got killed, there would be nobody stopping Razul from destroying the rest of Lost Desert.

He decided to fire his weapons at the fiery villain…but it didn't harm him at all…

"Do you really think you can harm me? I am a god!" he screamed, firing an enormous fireball at Marvin.

"Ow." stated Marvin, who was badly injured.

Thankfully, this distracted Razul while infuriating Jazan, who increased the intensity of the beam.

"That was too close." murmured the fire lord.

"I won't let you hurt my friends! You already hurt my wife…I won't let you do it again!" Jazan yelled.

The citizens of the Lost Desert decided to do what Marvin did, with harmful but nonetheless successful results.

"Enough is enough!" Razul screamed, who began emitting a fiery aura that would incinerate anyone it touched. At this point, everyone stepped down.

Everyone except Nightsteed, who was willing to sacrifice his life for its master. Immediately, he charged towards Razul…

…and unfortunately met a fiery end as he was reduced to ash.

This was the last straw for Jazan, who charged the beam with enough intensity to destroy Razul.

"What?! This can't be! I am invincible!" he yelled. Shortly afterwards, he finally met his end.

Afterwards, Jazan passed out on the sand, unconscious. Apparently that had taken quite a lot of him.

But one thing was for sure, Razul had once again been destroyed…hopefully he would remain so for good this time.

Immediately, the Lost Desert citizens wanted to host a party…but first they would have to host a funeral for his steed Nightsteed. Everyone was going to miss him…as he left he saw a tear leave Nabile's eye.

"Poor Nightsteed…I'm just glad that Razul's finally gone and I can get back to my companions." thought Marvin.

_At the Ice Caves…_

Hannah and Ursula started devising a plan that would stop the Bringer from destroying Terror Mountain…by once again making him destroy the Heart of the Mountain and freeze himself.

Immediately, they lunged towards the Bringer and began attacking them…it did little damage to the omnipotent Moehog but it did interrupt his deadly spell, much to the relief of the Happy Valley citizens.

Unfortunately, the Bringer must have realized what they were planning…because as he began attacking he was careful to avoid damaging the Heart of the Mountain…Hannah and Ursula immediately started getting clobbered by the beast.

"How…can we stop him?" thought Ursula.

Suddenly, she noticed that The Bringer…while an incredibly dangerous being, was still a Moehog, and suddenly she knew what to do.

Immediately, she pulled out a red piece of parchment, and started waving it where the Bringer could view it.

Suddenly, he got enraged and started charging blindly towards her…not because the parchment was red…but because of the sudden movement of the flag.

Our heroine was able to lure the Bringer towards the Heart of the Mountain…the beast didn't pay attention to what he was doing and therefore crashed directly towards it, shattering it and causing it to freeze once again.

Ursula then finished off The Bringer with a swift punch, causing him to shatter and bringing his reign of darkness to an end…and causing all of his minions to melt like ice cream.

"I didn't know you could bullfight…" thought Hannah.

"Let's just say that I know a lot about Moehogs…" stated Ursula, recalling the fact that one of her recurring adversaries was a lazy Moehog.

"I'm just glad that we managed to defeat The Bringer…I'm still going to miss Armin though." she stated.

Suddenly, she began crying…apparently losing Armin was traumatic.

"It's OK…he'll live on in your heart." stated Ursula.

"If you say so." agreed Hannah.

Speaking of companions, she wondered if her companions had survived just like she had. She wondered if Marvin had survived the scorching sands of the desert…her guess was as good as theirs.

_At Darigan Citadel (currently named the Kass Citadel)…_

"How are we going to take down Lord Kass and his army?" questioned Sheldon.

"If we die, we die with honor!" exclaimed Jeran.

This fact did not change the other fact that they were hopelessly outnumbered.

Suddenly, they heard what appeared to be digging…curious, our heroes and villains decide to listen…was it a Symol? It seemed unlikely given that most of them lived in Meridell.

Eventually, it got louder and louder and louder…until suddenly, Lord Darigan, Master Vex, and the other major citizens of Darigan Citadel emerged from the escape tunnel.

Help had arrived from the most unlikely source.

"I'm glad that you finally decided to create a secret escape tunnel instead of playing Cellblock for a change." spoke Lord Darigan.

"Even I have to take a break every now and then." explained Master Vex, despite the fact that he was the champion of the game.

Lord Kass was slightly distressed by the outcome of this event.

"You idiots! Why didn't you pay attention to what the prisoners were up to!" he yelled.

"We're sorry boss." the guards apologized weakly.

"You will be. As soon as this is over, I'm going to be executing some of you through lottery." he warned.

The guards immediately gulped. Who would be chosen?

Immediately, the heroes and villains got into a lengthy duel that would be too violent to describe in detail, with Lord Darigan fighting Lord Kass personally. Sheldon just hoped that Jeran wouldn't end up going over the edge like he had done before. After all, there might not be a passing Air Faerie to rescue him this time.

However, this time, it looked like Lord Kass and Lord Darigan were the ones that were going to go over the edge. They were currently wrestling each other and they were getting dangerous close.

"Oh no…" thought Sheldon. Would history repeat itself?

Eventually, the two of them didn't watch where they were going…and they ended falling off.

"Nooo!" screamed Jeran. Why did it have to be such a long fall? He wondered if any of the guards had ended up falling to their doom simply because they weren't paying attention to where they were going. He wondered how the Meridell citizens would react once they found Lord Darigan lying on the ground in a nasty mess.

He also wondered if the Faerie of Death was waiting at the bottom of the citadel to see if she could catch anyone that fell. It seemed likely given how high up the citadel was.

Suddenly, Lord Darigan came flying back towards the citadel. Due to the fact that he was a Korbat, he was thankfully capable of flight. Maybe that was why he decided to have his castle float in the sky? It seemed as good of an answer as any.

"Oh that's right...he can fly…wait, can't Eyries fly too?" thought Sheldon. "Then again I suppose that heavy armor was weighing Lord Kass down."

Thankfully, Lord Kass did not fly back up to the citadel, so it was safe to say that he was gone.

Afterwards, Lord Darigan and his minions started repairing the damage that Lord Kass had once again caused…and since he was feeling nice, he decided to release the low-class prisoners from the citadel…after all, their sentences were almost over.

Nonetheless, Sheldon wondered if his friends were as lucky as he was. He got the feeling they might be in danger. Would they be OK?

_At the Altador Battlefield…_

Gary still wondered how he was going to stop The Darkest Faerie now that the Orb of Jerdana had been destroyed. Was it the only thing that could stop her?

Suddenly, he remembered something that her previous defeats had in common. Apparently…Fyora was always hopeful that the Darkest Faerie had been stopped…and Tormund and Roberta always were hopeful that she could be defeated as well…

Could it be that hope was The Darkest Faerie's weakness? It would explain a lot.

Curious, he decided to bite her hand to see what would happen.

Immediately, she released Gary (much to his relief, as being life-drained was a horribly unpleasant experience) and started clutching her injured hand.

"You little pest! I'm going to make you regret that!" she screamed.

The Darkest Faerie tried to charge a spell at Gary, but he managed to knock it back at her with his tail.

"Aargh!" she yelled, as she was sent flying towards the castle.

She hit it with such force that it began to collapse…until she was buried alive.

Alive being the key word.

Suddenly, The Darkest Faerie crawled out of the rubble and dusted herself off. Apparently, she was rather resilient.

"I'm impressed…but it's still not enough to defeat me." she stated.

"Is it now?" asked Jerdana, who began casting a spell to transform her back into stone.

"No, no, no!" The Darkest Faerie screamed, as she once again was taken for granite.

"How can you do that without your orb?" Gary asked.

"Let's just say 1,000 years have given me plenty of time to practice magic." Jerdana exclaimed.

Suddenly, Gary's tail slipped, causing The Darkest Faerie's statue to fall over and shatter.

"Whoops." he stated.

"At least she won't be coming back anytime soon." thought the Aisha.

Gary let out a sigh of relief…he had taken on his worst fear…and he had won. He supposed that there was nothing to fear except fear itself…and the evil Mynci that lives in his closet.

But nonetheless, he was afraid that his friends had gotten themselves in trouble. Were they going to be fine? Would they have to visit the hospital? Would they have to visit the Faerie of Death?

All of those questions filled him with dread.

_At the Haunted Woods…_

Desdemona and Othella were having a difficult time fighting Mr. Krawley. For one thing, he was able to shapeshift into many different Neopets, some of which she recognized such as the Elephante gypsy.

In fact, this was his current form, and he was currently spewing peanuts at our heroine and villainess at quite a rapid pace.

"Run for cover!" demanded Desdemona.

Our duo did so.

"How are we going to get past that rapid fire?" Othella thought.

Suddenly, the Dark Faerie got an idea.

Using a spell, she managed to clog up Mr. Krawley's fairly large trunk, causing it to begin to swell.

"What are you doing?!" he yelled.

Suddenly, there was a sound of a peanut explosion, causing Mr. Krawley to turn back to normal.

"This isn't over! I've still got one more potion up my sleeve…" he said.

Suddenly, he began to transform…or more specifically he merged.

Suddenly, the haunted manor where he resided came to life!

"Oh no!" Othella screamed.

Immediately, it began to crawl towards our heroes…forcing them to try to fly away. It was a good thing they were rather fast fliers, as the monster mansion was destroying everything in its path.

"Curious…" thought Sophie, who saw the mansion go by.

"What's going on?" asked Gilly.

"Somehow, it reminds me of someone I met before…someone who gives me bad memories…" Bruno thought.

Immediately, he charged after the monster house.

"Where are you going?" asked Sophie.

"I'm going to see if I can do something…I saw something like this beast in a movie I used to watch." the mutant Gelert stated.

"I think he's been watching too much TV." spoke Gilly.

"They do have a web game on the website where you can actually watch commercials." explained Sophie.

Suddenly, one of the walls of Sophie's house collapsed on the floor.

"Darn it! I knew I should have gotten a better construction crew." complained the swamp witch.

_At a dead end in the forest…_

"Oh Faerie Bubbles! We've been cornered!" screamed Othella.

"I'm afraid so…these overly tall trees are preventing us from flying away…" agreed Desdemona.

"Who the heck plants enormous trees like these?" wondered Othella.

"I've got you now, my lovelies." laughed the crazy potion-maker.

Suddenly, they noticed Bruno on top of the roof. What was he up to?

"Get off!" demanded Mr. Krawley, who started trying to shake him off.

Bruno eventually fell off…but not before he smashed the chimney.

"Noooo!" the Krawk bellowed, as the haunted mansion suddenly collapsed.

"I hope he had house insurance." thought Othella.

"That was for mutating me and my townspeople." stated Bruno.

"Now then…remember this…the next time I see you…I'm going to light you up…catch my drift?" asked the Light Faerie.

"I suppose you haven't changed much." agreed the Dark Faerie.

The Light Faerie immediately flew away…Desdemona hoped that they wouldn't have to cross paths any time soon.

_Meanwhile…_

Redtooth washed up on a deserted island…where his friend Snotty was.

"Hey old friend! It's good to see you again! I was worried about you!" squealed the polite Lupe.

"It is nice to see you again…but unfortunately I think we've been marooned. In case you haven't noticed, we're on a small island in the middle of the vast ocean." Snotty exclaimed.

"How'd you get here anyway? The last thing I remember was nearly drowning." Redtooth asked.

"Let's just say that I should have paid attention to where my escape pod was heading. Until Othella manages to find us…I think it's safe to say we'll probably be slowly going native."

Suddenly, they noticed that there was a Lutari swimming in the water.

"We've got company." warned Redtooth.

"Is this good or bad?" asked Snotty.

"I'm not sure yet." answered Redtooth. He looked around and noticed that the island they were on was rather misty…and that there was more than one Lutari swimming in the water.

Just where exactly were they?

_Can you guess where Snotty and Redtooth have been marooned? And will our heroes ever get back together again? What will Lord Cataclysm do now that the League of Villains has been destroyed? Find out in the next chapter._

_By the way, these chapters keep getting longer don't they? Granted, the next one I write is probably going to be short in comparison…but still._

_I just hope that your eyes aren't tired from reading this…wouldn't want you to go to sleep in front of my computer…granted, you probably enjoyed this chapter…but still._

_In the next chapter, we can see how everything turns out…_


	66. Chapter 66: Regrouping

Saving Neopia

_In this chapter, our heroes will get back together once again…it's the moment we've all been waiting for, folks…and it's finally arrived…_

_Afterwards, the final arc will begin…and it's going to be a doozy…expect epic battles and whatnot…as our heroes make a title drop as they rescue Neopia from the forces of darkness and put an end to Lord Cataclysm for good._

_But for now, let's wrap up this current arc, shall we? I wouldn't want to leave any plot holes…because they tend to confuse people…imagine if an enormous Slorg of Doom came out of one of those, huh? It certainly would cause problems for this story…problems that none of us would certainly want._

_Now then, let's begin this chapter so we can all see what happens next._

**Chapter 66: Regrouping**

Bloony sat at Neopia Central…he had contacted his friends using his Neophone, but unfortunately none of them had shown up yet. Where had they gone?

He started to wonder if something horrible had happened to them. After all, he had sent them all on dangerous missions…he wondered if it was a mistake.

He waited and waited…for what seemed like an eternity…

…when suddenly he heard the sweet voice of his very close friend Cherry, as she ran towards him with her stubby red legs. Apparently, she was just as happy to see him as he was. Bloony rubbed his eyes to see if he wasn't seeing things…it turns out he wasn't hallucinating and that the Red Chia was standing in front of him.

"Cherry! You made it!" yelled the yellow Blumaroo. Never had he been so happy to see her…even though it hadn't been that long it felt like he hadn't seen her in ages.

And for some reason, she was holding a fishbowl. What was in there?

"Hey Bloony! It's good to see you again! I was worried that you were sleeping with the fishes…speaking of fishes, I brought you a little something!" exclaimed Cherry.

Bloony looked inside the fishbowl…and saw something curious. Inside was a Petpet that looked oddly like him. Was it the work of Dr. Sloth? Then again he had defeated him recently so it was probably just a coincidence.

"Curious and curiouser…" he thought. He decided to take a closer look…

When suddenly the Baby Blu blew him a raspberry. Apparently, even though they looked the same, the Petpet had a very different personality. The irony was outstanding.

But nonetheless, he was happy to finally have a Petpet for a change. He decided to place it inside the Safety Deposit Box so that he could later send it to his Neohome at Roo Island.

"It sure was nice of you to take the time to get me a present…even though you were on a dangerous mission." applauded Bloony.

"What can I say? We're close." answered Cherry.

"So, did anything interesting happen to you while you were at Maraqua? I had to spend my time fighting a horribly clichéd mad scientist who wanted to turn everyone in Neopia into mutants…I'm sure you already know about him though." asked Bloony.

"Funny you should mention that. I had to fight a crazy pirate captain and his crew of pirates…thankfully I had help from virtually anyone in Maraqua…and unfortunately there were a few…casualties." answered back Cherry.

"Do you know where the others are?" the leader of the Heroes of Light asked.

Cherry shook her head. "No, unfortunately. I was wondering if they were with you."

"Darn it! I'm starting to get worried." spoke Bloony with some concern. Just where were they? Had their Guardian Faeries abandoned them? Had the Faerie of Death decided to take them to her magical realm of the departed?

Suddenly, he heard the sound of a jetpack…and realized that his friend Marvin had made it as well.

"Marvin! You're back!" shouted the yellow Blumaroo.

"Reporting for duty!" yelled the green Mynci, obedient as always.

Once again, our hero asked him what had happened while he was away. He explained that he had gone to the Lost Desert as ordered, only for him to be attacked by Razul and his army of dark creatures…also; he was forced to play Judge Hog 64.

"Not that!" screamed Cherry. Apparently Marvin wasn't the only one that had heard of that horrible video game. After all, it was rather infamous.

"I'm afraid so! Why was it even in my pocket?" wondered the geeky Neopet. He could have sworn he left it back home in the trash can where it belonged.

"One thing's for sure. I'm not going to play that game any time soon." Bloony replied, immediately shuddering from the thought of playing such as a lousy game. Judge Hog 64 always gave him the worst of nightmares.

Suddenly, Marvin was given a bone-crunching hug…immediately, our hero and heroine pulled out their weapons…

Only to discover that it was Ursula, who was just happy to see her favorite green Mynci once again. Bloony and Cherry wondered if they should do the same…they voted yes and started hugging each other.

Ursula explained that she had to deal with Galem and The Bringer…and that she got to meet Hannah…

"The treasure hunter, eh? I wonder what she and Armin are searching for now?" Marvin wondered.

Ursula then explained the bad news.

"Noooo! Not Armin! He was so cute!" cried out Marvin. Why did the good have to die young?

Suddenly, our heroes heard what appeared to be Grarrl footsteps and whimpering…they recognized their friend Gary, who apparently was panicking because he was in a large crowd.

"H-h-hey everyone! G-g-ood to see you!" the Grarrl exclaimed. He was already sweating uncontrollably, but nonetheless he seemed happy to see them. After all, he hadn't seen them in a while.

Gary explained that he had managed to defeat The Darkest Faerie during his trip to Altador…our heroes were immediately surprised that he had done so single-handedly.

"How'd you do it?" Bloony asked. Was his friend a juggernaut of some kind? He didn't think they could defeat her even if they all worked together. She was just too powerful.

"Err…she turned into a statue and I accidentally tipped her over." explained the timid Grarrl.

"Why didn't Neopia think of that before?" wondered Cherry. It certainly would have saved them a lot of trouble, wouldn't it? After all, the Neopets Staff wouldn't have had to release a video game known as Neopets: The Darkest Faerie just so they could turn her into a statue again if she had ended up that way 1,000 years ago.

Suddenly, Sheldon zipped by, still as fast as ever. Apparently, he had made it also. All that was left now was Desdemona…

…who soon enough, flew by next to our heroes. It looked like they were all finally back together again!

As usual, our two heroes explained what happened to them recently. Unsurprisingly, they had also encountered some of the worst villains in Neopia.

"So what you're saying is that we've all encountered villains?" inquired Sheldon. What were the odds?

Suddenly, our heroes began to wonder if something was going on. It couldn't have been a coincidence that they all decided to attack in once…and they also began to wonder if Lord Cataclysm has something to do with it.

"If Lord Cataclysm is responsible for this, I think it's safe to say he's through with playing games. We need to get to his castle fast!" suggested Bloony.

"But how will we get to his castle?" asked Cherry. Despite everything that had happened, they still had no idea how they would make it to his lair.

"I'm sure we'll find a way. We have to if we're going to stop him from conquering the rest of Neopia. He's probably already concocting another plan as we speak…" stated Bloony.

"I wonder what exactly he's planning." spoke Marvin.

"I'm not sure but I can't shake the feeling that he's up to no good." answered Desdemona.

_Meanwhile in Apocalypse Castle…_

Lord Cataclysm was not in a good mood. In fact, he was so furious he had recently attacked some of his minions, with rather predictable results. His dark ritual to summon the worst villains in Neopia had ultimately gone to waste, as he had heard from his scouts that they had all been defeated by the Heroes of Light along with some of the other heroes in Neopia.

"Those pests have been terrorizing me for far too long now! And to think they actually managed to defeat some of the worst villains in Neopia…"

However, he was determined not to let them stop him…on the contrary; he believed that not even they could ultimately stop his plans.

"No. I will not let them stand in my way. The Heroes of Light shall be destroyed, and I shall reign supreme as the ruler of Neopia!" shouted Lord Cataclysm.

Unbeknownst to the dark lord however, Fallenova had overheard his conversation, and once again she began to become suspicious of his true motives.

"I thought he was going to help Neopia…not rule it with an iron fist." wondered Fallenova.

Of course, she also noted that she was quite possibly the only female in the Cult of Apocalypse and wondered if her boss believed in gender superiority…but that wasn't as big of a deal considering the thoughts that had been plaguing her recently.

Just recently, her master had also ordered Steven to build a missile that would spray his chemical all across Neopia…what exactly would happen once it landed? As usual, he had stated that it would bring peace…but what if he was lying? Just what was its purpose? Come to think of it, the Xweetok wasn't exactly sure of its effects himself. Had Lord Cataclysm not wanted to test it?

Also, she noticed that her appearance to her had been changing recently…she had heard that his appearance varied depending on who was currently looking at him…The Black Knight thought he looked like another Mutant Grundo for instance…

Before, she thought that he looked just like a hero…but now she began to notice that his face was now noticeably pale, and his eyes were now glowing red. She wondered if this was because her opinion of him was changing or something else altogether.

The more she thought of it, the more nervous she got. She wondered if she should once again talk to the Black Knight and see if he had anything to say to her about what was currently happening, when suddenly a Cult of Apocalypse member handed her a message. Apparently, Cataclysm wanted her to hunt down and destroy the Heroes of Light once and for all…a task which she was quite reluctant to accept.

"Fyora, please forgive me…" thought Fallenova as she left the base of operations.

_At a certain island…_

"How are we going to get out of here? We're marooned!" screamed Snotty.

"Maybe we could try to light a fire and hope for a passing airplane." suggested Redtooth.

Accepting that suggestion, Snotty tried lighting a fire…and sure enough a passing airplane did pass by.

"Hooray! We're saved!" shouted the green Blumaroo.

Suddenly, a nearby Lutari decided to look at the fire. Due to the fact that it was soaking wet, it started shaking its fur like a Gelert…and ended up causing their beacon to be extinguished.

Snotty, realizing his attempt to escape was foiled, then said a bunch of unflattering things that would have gotten this story rated T at the very least.

The Neopets staff must have overheard his dirty mouth, because they immediately fired a freeze ray at Snotty, trapping him in a block of ice.

"Nooooo! My friend has been frozen today!" yelled Redtooth. He heard that the Neopets Staff did this to those that misbehaved…but never before had it occurred before his very eyes. It certainly wasn't a pretty sight.

Suddenly, the second-in-command of the Villains of Darkness got an idea…considering the fact that ice generally floated in water…maybe he could his friend as a boat? After all, it wasn't like he was going to thaw out any time soon.

And so he decided to look for a makeshift paddle in the nearby jungle.

_Meanwhile in Lost Desert Prison…_

Rocky was having an easy time breaking out of prison. After all, with his monstrous Tyrannian strength, beating up the guards was like taking candy from a baby…that was currently sleeping.

Of course, it also helped that he was angry from being defeated by Marvin again, although this time it was due to the authorities intervening.

"Stop him!" demanded the Desert Techo captain.

"What do you think we're trying to do?!" screamed the Bori guard.

Before long, Rocky had already managed to escape from prison…

But where were his friends? He couldn't remember…in fact, he was always forgetting things.

"Where Rocky's friends go? They got to be around somewhere." he thought. Maybe he should head to Neopia Central? Maybe if he could watch a movie about Neopets beating each other up. It sounded like a good idea.

Suddenly, he noticed that he seemed to have acquired a fairly nasty sunburn from being in the desert heat so long.

"Ouchies! Rocky's skin hurt! What going on?" he pondered.

_At Terror Mountain…_

Jennifer woke up to find herself with a cold. Apparently being in the cold for so long had negative side-effects on her. In fact, if she didn't have fur, she probably would have frozen to death by now.

Why did she always have to lose to her inferior counterpart? She was everything she was not…She was hideous, weak, and altogether disgusting. At least, that was her opinion. She hoped someday that she would be able to get revenge, but it seemed like that day would never come.

"I hate *sneeze* being in this wasteland…I want to go *sneeze* somewhere warm for a change…I wonder how *sneeze* Rocky is doing. Surely he's having *sneeze* a better time than I am…" she thought.

She decided for the time being that she should escape from Terror Mountain and head back to Happy Valley…from there she could probably go somewhere else such as Neopia Central…and hopefully get a cure for the winter cold she had developed.

"Do they have *sneeze* any cold medicine?" she wondered.

_In Altador Prison…_

Cinder was absolutely furious. He had been defeated by a measly janitor! How could this have possibly happened to him? Either way, it looks like he was once again behind bars. Being in prison was such a pain. Now how would he terrorize society?

Suddenly, Kelland the Thief came into the room, and started talking to the prisoners. Apparently he wanted them for something.

"As you all aware, you are in prison due to the fact that you decided to commit crimes while in the boundaries of Altador. I'm not sure what came over you, but anyways…Jerdana has decided to make you a deal." he explained.

"As you may all be aware." he continued. "The castle and its surroundings have been badly damaged from the recent battle. Because most of you are low-class prisoners, we have agreed to release you from prison if you assist with the repairs. Understood?"

The prisoners immediately nodded. Cinder immediately chuckled to himself. His prison sentence had been awfully short. He wouldn't even need to build another escape tunnel!

"Once I get out of here, I'm going to be given a second chance…to cause even more destruction!" he thought.

He began laughing to himself as he and his fellow prisoners went to work.

_Meanwhile in Meridell Prison…_

Larry was sound asleep in his prison cell, even though it had only been a few hours since the palace guards had hauled him off to jail. In fact, he was snoring very loudly, and it was currently annoying his cellmate.

"Hey you! I'm going to mess you up if you don't stop that!" bellowed the angry Shoyru.

He ignored him and kept on sleeping.

"That's it!" he screamed, punching him on the face.

Immediately, the Moehog woke up and went on a rampage, leaving a giant hole in the wall.

"Who woke me up from my slumber?!" he yelled.

"Oh snap." murmured the Shoyru. He really shouldn't have punched him in the face.

Immediately, Larry headbutted the Shoyru through the prison bars, sending him flying several feet into another jail cell and causing even more damage.

Before long, the prisoners all began fighting one another, causing a riot and allowing him the chance to slip away while the palace guards were sent to handle the situation.

_Meanwhile in the Haunted Woods…_

Othella began to wonder if Desdemona was as bad of a person that she had thought she was. Fyora had previously told her that not all Dark Faeries were evil…and that in fact some of them were actually good people.

Of course, she had never believed this…but now that she thought of it, why would Desdemona try to save the Haunted Woods from Mr. Krawley if she was evil? It doesn't make any sense. Granted, she probably didn't want competition in the evil industry…but still, it was rather unusual.

She then flew over to Faerieland…and noticed that there seemed to be something odd with it.

Specifically, the castle that was once known as Faerie Palace was now black as ink…and it looked as if was surrounded by warships and other nasty things.

"For the love of Pop Tart, what the heck happened here?" she wondered. It seemed in her absence everything had gone sour.

Initially, she thought that maybe the Heroes of Light would be behind this given that they were a bunch of nasty evildoers…but then she figured that not even they would be powerful enough to bring Faerieland to its knees. After all, they would have to get past Fyora, who was one of the most powerful beings in all of Neopia. Speaking of which, what had ever happened to her?

Eventually, it became clear to even her that she should probably leave this place…the more she thought about it, the more the conquered Faerieland gave her bad vibes.

She decided to head to Neopia Central, due to the fact that it was generally considered a safe haven.

_The Heroes of Light have regrouped, but unfortunately it seems the Villains of Darkness are going to regroup shortly as well._

_Also, Lord Cataclysm seems to be planning to infect millions of people with his nasty chemical…he's really gone too far this time, hasn't he?_

_And to make matters even worse for our heroes, Fallenova has been sent to have a rematch with them…will they be able to defeat her this time?_

_Hopefully, they will be able to do so…in the next chapter of course!_

_In other news, I managed to unlock the Lab Ray so that I zap my Neopets with it…I used it on my Quiggle and he ended up turning into a woman…funny story, eh? But of course that's offtopic so let's end this chapter, shall we?_

_So until next time, thank you and have a nice day._


	67. Chapter 67: A Surprising Victory

Saving Neopia

_In this chapter, our heroes will once again encounter Fallenova…will they get defeated once again? Or will they get lucky this time? Read about it in this latest chapter…_

**Chapter 67: A Surprising Victory**

After our heroes finally managed to get back together from their quest of travelling all across Neopia, they began to wonder what their next plan of action should be.

"I think we should head back to Faerieland." suggested Bloony.

"Isn't it, you know, conquered by Lord Cataclysm and filled with his minions?" asked Cherry. Apparently, she didn't think paying Faerieland a visit was a very good idea.

"Yes…but there may be a way for us to get to his lair from there. The problem is how we are going to get inside without getting caught…" he wondered.

He thought that perhaps that there were cloaks at the Neopian Store that loosely resembled what the Cult of Apocalypse wore…maybe they could try to disguise themselves? After all, they could probably sneak into the castle unnoticed considering how dumb some of his minions were. It seemed as good of a plan as any.

Suddenly, a giant fireball was sent flying towards our heroes. Naturally, Gary was the first one to notice.

"Hit the deck!" he screamed.

Our heroes jumped out of the way of the fireball and immediately recognized their attacker.

"You!" Bloony yelled, recognizing her as the Faerie that had defeated them at Terror Mountain.

"My apologizes Heroes of Light…but my master has sent me to destroy you all for good…I hope you have all your affairs in order…" Fallenova stated as she began charging a rather nasty lightning bolt.

Marvin immediately fired a bunch of rockets at her….which she easily dodged…

Only for them to move back towards her and explode into her face.

"Aargh!" she screamed.

"As you can see…I made my rockets heat-seeking while you were away!" Marvin exclaimed. For some strange reason, he always seemed to be prepared.

Fallenova applied a healing Water Faerie spell to herself. Had she gotten a little rusty?

Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain in her wing…she turned around but noticed that there seemed to be nobody there…what was going on?

Shortly enough, she heard whimpering…apparently whoever was biting into her wing was invisible! Quickly, she covered herself with fire…forcing Gary to fall off.

"Ow owie owchies!" he screamed as he plummeted to the ground. "I hate heights!"

"Could he do that before?" wondered Fallenova.

Curious, she fired another fireball at our heroes…who jumped out of the way…

…except for Gary, who was still stunned from his fall…immediately, he was charred black and passed out on the ground.

"Noooo!" Sheldon screamed. Immediately, he spin dashed towards Fallenova and jumped on top of her, sending her crashing into the ground.

"Ow! You little…" she hissed.

Fallenova pushed Sheldon off, flew back into the air, and prepared another lightning bolt…but unfortunately the orange Skeith had fast reflexes and he immediately zoomed out of the way. Since when was he so difficult to hit?

She didn't have time to ponder this question…as suddenly several dark fireballs were shot right in her direction. She looked around her and noticed that a Dark Faerie was attacking her. Did the Heroes of Light recruit another member? It was rather ironic that this one was a Dark Faerie…but she didn't have time to care.

Immediately, Fallenova and Desdemona started trading spells…unfortunately hers was far stronger and eventually the latter was overwhelmed and fell to the ground once a lightning bolt hit her.

"Desdemona!" our heroes screamed.

"Two down, five to go." she thought.

Marvin once again fired a bunch of homing rockets…but this time she was ready. Using an air spell, Fallenova literally blew them out of the sky.

"Dang nabbit!" he yelled.

Unfortunately for her, she was hit by a rather large rock shortly afterwards courtesy of Ursula.

"Aargh!" she screamed. At this point, she was through playing around.

She snapped her fingers, and a bunch of dark minions appeared…

But this time, Cherry made short work of them, using copies of herself to attack the many dark minions…before long they had all vanished into darkness.

Fallenova snarled in frustration, and began preparing another giant fireball…

…but she was forced to use it to defend herself instead of offensively when Bloony used his telekinesis to send a rather large tree towards her…it was burnt to ashes…but her dangerous spell had been interrupted nonetheless.

At this point, she realized why she was having a harder time than usual taking down our heroes…apparently, they had gotten much stronger during their last encounter…and unfortunately she had not done the same…in fact, she was starting to get a little worried.

"I didn't even bring my battle armor…" she thought. How could she have been so careless?

She didn't have time to answer this question…as suddenly Cherry let out one of her many sonic burps and sent her flying into the air…where she hit a nearby building…

"Hey look! It's a Faerie wearing a cloak!" one of the office workers (a purple Scorchio) screamed.

"Yeah right! You're always rambling about seeing things!" replied another one of the office workers (a yellow Eyrie).

"Get back to work!" bellowed the manager. (a red Pteri.)

Fallenova immediately tried to apply another healing spell, but Ursula interrupted it by tossing another rock. Her super-strength certainly was coming in handy.

"Why do all my spells take time to charge up?" she wondered.

Using an earth spell, Fallenova managed to shake the ground…causing a nearby tree to fall on top of Marvin…

"This is going to hurt…" he thought, right before he was crushed.

Fallenova let out a sigh of relief…but it was rather short-lived, as immediately Ursula attacked her like berserk. The faerie examined her closely and noticed Ursula's face was red with rage.

"Nobody hurts…my Marvin!" she bellowed.

Suddenly, before she could react, the Nova Faerie was hit by an ENORMOUS rock…one that made the previous rock Ursula had thrown her seem like a pebble in comparison…

"I wonder where I even get all these rocks?" thought Ursula.

This must have done the trick, as immediately Fallenova collapsed on the ground in defeat…that particular rock had done a ton of damage…

"Ugh…" she thought, as she passed on top of the ground.

Our heroes immediately looked at each other in surprise.

"I don't get it…didn't she beat the dung out of us the last time we fought her?" asked Bloony.

"Maybe she had the flu?" replied Cherry.

"Or maybe we got stronger since our last encounter…and lucky for us, Fallenova wasn't able to catch up…" answered Ursula.

"Come to think of it…that's actually a pretty good explanation…" Bloony said.

Curious, our heroes decided to examine Fallenova…and noticed that she had a rather impressive-looking badge…that signified that she was the right-hand of Lord Cataclysm himself.

"Whoa!" explained Bloony.

Apparently, they could use the badge to teleport all of them at once to Faerieland itself…Bloony suggested that they do it once they take their fallen teammates to the Neopian Hospital. Hopefully they would be able to recover from their many injuries.

_Meanwhile in Apocalypse Castle…_

Lord Cataclysm was rather displeased by Fallenova's defeat. What had happened to her was quite an unexpected surprise. Why couldn't she take them down like she had done before? Surely it couldn't have been that difficult…

He then noted that the Heroes of Light had taken on many different foes since their last encounter with her…and that each of them had even taken on a different member of his League of Villains individually. Apparently, they had gotten much more powerful to the point they were able to fight toe-to-toe with her.

But he decided that it wasn't a big deal. He could deal with her failure later. After all, it was almost time to complete his master plan anyway. And if all else failed…he also had a plan in case the Heroes of Light ever did make it to him…

Soon, all of Neopia would become dark and evil…and kindness and happiness would vanish from it…he immediately smiled…and it was a frightening one indeed.

"Yes…I don't have long to wait now…soon all of Neopia will be under my control…of course when I grow tired of having it under my thumb…I just might decide to instead burn it to the ground…but for the time being I'll settle with conquering it…" he thought.

Whatever he eventually decided to do to Neopia…it would be his crowning achievement of wickedness. It would never be the same, to say the very least.

_Meanwhile near Neopia Central…_

After he had finally gotten a paddle from the jungle (he had to play a game of poker with the natives…but that's another story), Redtooth hopped on top of his friend Snotty and started paddling towards Neopia Central…hoping that the Neopets Food Shop was open.

By the time he finally arrived, he was exhausted…in fact, he felt like he was about to pass out.

He decided to wait to see if his buddy Snotty would eventually defrost…

Soon enough, he did…and unsurprisingly he was shivering, and his teeth were chattering. Would he end up becoming a blue Blumaroo instead of staying a green one?

"C-c-curse you N-n-neopets Staff! You f-f-freeze people for no r-r-reason!" bellowed Snotty. Why did they have to be so cruel?

"I'm sorry that you got frozen." Redtooth gave his sympathies.

"That's beside the point…oh brother…it looks like the Heroes of Light are here as well…" the green Blumaroo complained.

Redtooth looked around and saw that Cherry the Chia was among them. He immediately snarled at the sight of his arch-enemy.

"You know, I just thought of something…maybe we should have a final battle with them or something? Maybe that way we can finally win…and after that we can go on a massive crime spree!" exclaimed Redtooth.

"That's a great idea!" agreed Snotty, who immediately stopped chattering his teeth due to the warmness he was suddenly feeling. "You're a genius! Those Heroes of Light won't stand a chance!"

"Didn't they beat us…like eight different times?" asked Redtooth.

"True…but this time will be different! Look what I got!" Snotty exclaimed. Reaching into his pockets (why Neopets had pockets when they didn't wear clothes…Neopia may never know), he pulled out seven different Transmogrification Potions.

"I assume you're intending for us to drink those?" inquired Redtooth.

"Yes…I got them from Neopets Auctions…they'll give us super-strength…super-speed…super-healing…super everything!" Snotty bellowed. "It's time for us to stop playing games…this time, we will vanquish the Heroes of Light once and for all!"

"Should we make them wear T-Shirts saying "We're A Bunch of Losers" and "We Were No Match For The Villains of Darkness"?" Redtooth asked.

"Sure sure! They'll never be able to call themselves heroes again…because everyone will think they're a bunch of babies!" laughed Snotty. "Now all we have to do is wait for our friends to show up…assuming they'll be able to find us that is…"

Suddenly, our villains spotted Rocky…who had taken a taxi from The Lost Desert to Neopia Central, curiously enough. He looked like he was sunburned.

"Rocky never want to visit desert again." he moaned.

Immediately, Snotty and Redtooth ran up to him and told them about their plan.

"We can defeat the Heroes of Light easily! They'll stand no chance against us!" bellowed Snotty.

"Final battle? Sound good. Rocky get to crush little green Mynci!" he bellowed.

Suddenly, another taxi came by…revealing Jennifer, who was looking rather cold.

"Hey Jennifer!" greeted the trio.

"Ugh…I feel like I'm about to freeze to death…" complained Jennifer.

"Welcome to my world…" muttered Snotty, recalling his unfortunate incident with the Neopets Staff.

As before, our villains explained their plan of a final battle with the heroes…a suggestion of which she immediately smiled to.

"Yes…I'd love to get my revenge on that little Usul pest that's always in my way." agreed Jennifer.

Suddenly, our heroes heard charging…and soon enough there was Cinder, who was looking as fiery as ever.

"Did I miss anything?" he asked.

"Nothing much. We're about to plan a final battle between those little jerks The Heroes of Light." explained Snotty.

"Will I get to pummel that purple scaredy-cat Grarrl into the ground?" he asked.

Redtooth nodded.

"Then count me in." nodded Cinder.

Shortly afterwards, our heroes began to hear snoring…for some strange reason Larry was right next to them.

"How did he even get there?" wondered Snotty. Of course, he wasn't exactly in the mood to care at that point.

"Hey, wake up!" screamed Redtooth.

Larry immediately woke up…and he was very angry.

"Who dares awaken me from my slumber?!" he yelled.

"Calm down! It's just us!" replied Jennifer.

"Oh…ok then…is there any reason you woke me up?" inquired Larry.

"We were about to plan a final battle between ourselves and the Heroes of Light…because you know, they're jerks." explained Snotty.

"Right…of course…I guess I'll have to make that speedy Orange Skeith take a dirt nap instead of me…" murmured Larry, before he went back to sleep.

Finally, Othella flew by…she seemed rather happy to see them all in one piece.

"Oh, hey Othella…do you want to participate in the final battle with us and the Heroes of Light? I'm sure it will be worth it if you come along…" asked Snotty.

"I've been wanting to bring the Heroes of Light to justice for a long while now…that Dark Faerie in particular…so yes." agreed Othella.

The seven Villains of Darkness then let out a long evil laugh…today was going to be a day they would never forget…

_Meanwhile in the Neopian Hospital…_

Bloony was pleased to hear from the doctor that his friends would be OK and that they would be able to leave the hospital…they had participated in quite a nasty battle and he would never forgive himself if they ended up paying the Faerie of Death a visit.

Suddenly, he received a Neomail from his laptop.

"You've got Neomail." stated an electronic voice.

"I just got a Neoletter. I wonder who it's from?" thought Bloony.

Much to his chagrin, it turned out to be from the Villains of Darkness.

"It's probably hate Neomail…" thought Bloony, wondering if that was what they had been reduced to ever since their last encounter.

His curiosity was aroused when the topic of the Neomail was "Final Battle", and against his better judgment, he decided to open it.

"Here's hoping that there aren't any viruses or nasty images in that letter." he thought.

He began examining the letter…and immediately he began to roll his eyes.

_Dear Heroes of Loserville Who Are A Bunch of Morons And Cannot Hope To Match Our Greatness…_

_We are sick and tired of you always getting in the way of our plans! You have made us tear every single hair out of our beautiful heads! We just can't take it anymore! We just want to commit some crimes and have some fun!_

_Because of this, we have decided to have a final battle with you…if we win, you have to run around wearing T-Shirts saying that you're a bunch of losers and that you can never hope to match us in glory…suffice to say your reputation as heroes will be destroyed! Mwahahaha!_

_On the other hand, if you guys win, which you won't by the way, we promise never to cause trouble across Neopia again. We will renounce our evil ways and we will stop committing crimes. In other words, you'll never have to worry about us again!_

_If you're interested, meet us at the center of town at midnight…we hope to see you there…get ready to get your rear ends handed to you!_

_Sincerely,_

_The Villains of Darkness Who Are Really Awesome And Always Will Be For All Eternity_

Bloony closed the Neoletter. The thought of finally having the Villains of Darkness out of his fur was quite a happy thought…but he got the feeling that it was probably just a trick of theirs. After all, they were sneaky and crafty.

He decided to talk to his teammates (including the ones that were at the hospital) and see what they thought about it. Knowing them, they would probably have mixed opinions.

"I say we go out there and teach them a lesson! They've caused more than enough trouble!" bellowed Cherry.

"I second that! Let's take them down and end this once and for all!" yelled Marvin.

"This final battle's got my vote!" Ursula shouted.

Suddenly, a Chia nurse came by…apparently they wanted them to be quiet, as some of the patients were sleeping. They immediately apologized and started lowering their voices.

"I don't know about this guys…it sounds like it might be messy. What if the Villains of Darkness decided to ambush us? We'll get creamed!" Gary yelled.

"We've dealt with the Villains of Darkness countless times…but Gary does have a point. They aren't exactly honorable Neopets, are they?" agreed Sheldon.

"I wouldn't want us to have to wear humiliating T-Shirts…where would we even get those anyway? From The Trading Post?" nodded Desdemona.

Bloony listened to each and every one of his six friends…and realized that there was a tie.

"I guess we're going to need a tiebreaker for this one…" he said.

He thought and thought about the risks…and the positives...and how annoying the Villains of Darkness were…

Finally, he came to a conclusion.

"I vote we go out there and have our final battle. Our little feud with them has got to end once and for all." spoke Bloony.

Cherry, Marvin, and Ursula immediately jumped into the air, while Gary, Sheldon, and Desdemona let out a sigh.

_A few hours later…_

The Heroes of Light went to where the Villains of Darkness had agreed to meet them at…just where were they? Was it a trap like Gary was afraid of?

Curiously enough, it was currently raining outside, as if the weather itself had recognized how intense the battle was going to be. Maybe they should have checked the Neopian Weather Channel…that way they could have prepared for the rain and gotten some umbrellas or some raincoats.

Our heroes waited and waited for the Villains of Darkness.

Soon enough, the Villains of Darkness stepped out of the shadows…Snotty himself standing right in front of them. As they did so, lightning immediately illuminated the sky.

"So, you accepted our invitation for a final battle, didn't you? Big mistake. We've got a little surprise for you…" he explained.

Suddenly, all seven of the Villains of Darkness pulled out the transmogrification potions and gulped them down. What was going on?

"This can't be good." thought Bloony, who all of a sudden was having second thoughts of agreeing to their demands of participating in the final battle.

Almost immediately, the Villains of Darkness began mutating. They started gaining big muscles…growing larger…gaining red eyes…gaining sharp fangs (with the exception of Redtooth, who already had sharp fangs), gaining exposed veins…and in Othella's case, gaining scary-looking wings…until they looked awfully frightening and dangerous.

"Now then…let's see how well you'll stand against us!" Snotty bellowed in a rather deeper than usual voice. Perhaps the mutation also caused his voice to change?

The green Blumaroo gave the signal…and immediately the Villains of Darkness began to attack!

_This is a rather big showdown isn't it? It seems that the Villains of Darkness are finally taking things seriously with the Heroes of Light...will they actually prevail this time? Or will the Heroes of Light defeat them just as they had done so many times before? Tune in next time for the ultimate battle between light and darkness…at least until the upcoming showdown with Lord Cataclysm anyway…_

_So until then, feel free to leave me some reviews…it couldn't hurt to have more reviews, now could it? After all, the more the merrier…unless of course they're bad ones…let's hope I don't get any of those, shall we?_


	68. Chapter 68: Light Vs Darkness

Saving Neopia

_In this chapter, we'll get to see the battle we've all been waiting for…the final battle between the Heroes of Light and the Villains of Darkness! Let's see what happens to our heroes, shall we? You've probably been looking forward to this considering how many times they've fought in the past…well in this chapter we'll finally get to see an end to that…the battles between the Heroes of Light and Villains of Darkness were starting to get repetitive after all…_

_Afterwards, our heroes will take the fight to the Cult of Apocalypse once and for all…seeing though the Villains of Darkness will be out of the picture there won't be much stopping them, now would there?_

**Chapter 68: Light vs. Darkness**

Lightning struck the sky as the mutated Villains of Darkness stood in front of the Heroes of Light, who were expecting the worst.

"Attack!" bellowed Snotty.

Immediately, the mutated Villains of Darkness began to attack our heroes just as they had done so many times before…but this time they were actually winning for a change. The mutated potions had done their job. As a matter of fact, our heroes were getting clobbered.

"I wish I had never agreed to this final battle." thought Bloony. Who would have thought that the Villains of Darkness had brought dangerous mutation potions to give them an edge in battle? Apparently he had underestimated them…they were much smarter than he had thought.

Hand-to-hand combat with the Villains of Darkness was now completely out of the question, as our heroes quickly discovered as soon as they engaged their opponents.

"Ow! Ouch! Ooh! Eek!" bellowed Gary as Cinder plowed into him and took his breath away.

"Aaugh!" screamed Marvin as Rocky smashed him with his now enormous club.

"Yeowch!" screeched Ursula as Jennifer clawed her in the face.

"Noooo!" yelled Cherry as Redtooth bit her in the arm with his razor-sharp fangs.

"Why?!" shouted Desdemona as Othella shocked her with a deadly zap of lightning.

"Aw, man!" cried out Sheldon as Larry gored him with his now super-large tusks.

"Ergh!" hollered Bloony as Snotty punched him in the face so hard that he collapsed on the ground.

Our heroes tried to fight back, but the Villains of Darkness easily defended themselves. In fact, their attacks simply bounced straight off of them. Not only had the mutation potions given them super-strength, it had also given them super-resilience.

"Maybe you should take some vitamins, because your pathetic attacks aren't hurting us at all!" taunted Snotty.

Eventually, our heroes found that they had no choice but to retreat from their mutated enemies, much to their shame. They decided to hide inside a local Neopets General Store…curiously enough; the door was unlocked even though it had been closed for the night. They started barricading the building using some wooden boards, some nails, and a hammer…but they didn't know how much good it was considering that the Villains of Darkness were now all super-strong.

"What are we going to do? They're just too powerful now! We don't stand a chance!" inquired Cherry.

"I'm so scared! Even more than usual! I'm afraid of the dark! And mutated Neopets!" bellowed Gary.

Ursula and Marvin were busy hugging each other…apparently, they were almost as afraid as Gary was. It was hard to believe that the Villains of Darkness had become so threatening so quickly. Why couldn't they have remained ineffectual like always? That way they could have won the final battle easily.

"Calm down, Gary, I'm sure that we'll think of something." assured Sheldon. But deep down, he wasn't sure that he would make it out in one piece either.

"We had better do it fast. I think they're already here!" replied Desdemona.

And soon enough, our heroes could tell that The Villains of Darkness were all outside the Neopets General Store…and that they were all laughing hysterically. Apparently, they found their attempts to defend themselves rather amusing.

"So, this is what you've been reduced to, hasn't it, trying to protect yourself from us using a feeble barricade? Face it, Heroes of Light, you're always been inferior to us!" taunted Snotty. "The previous times you've fought us, you've been lucky! Well guess what? Your luck has finally run out! Today's the day we're finally going to win!"

Suddenly, it occurred that Bloony that even though the Villains of Darkness were mutated and were now several times more powerful than before, they were the same old, obnoxious Neopets on the inside…and he immediately got an idea on how to defeat them.

"Guys, I've got a plan. Just listen to what I have to say." Bloony explained.

His comrades listened carefully as he told him his idea.

As Bloony explained his plan, his friends all heard loud noises outside. Apparently, they were trying to destroy the barricade...and judging from the loud ripping and tearing noises they heard, it looked like they didn't have much time.

"So much for talking being a free action." thought Cherry. Whatever their plan of action was, they would have to do it fast.

Immediately, our heroes began setting up a trap for the Villains of Darkness, using whatever was available to ambush them. Afterwards, they began to hide.

"Be very quiet." warned Bloony.

Shortly afterwards, the Villains of Darkness bust down the door, and they began searching for the Heroes of Light. Curiously enough, it appeared to be deserted. Where were the pesky wimps that had run away from them?

"Come out wherever you are, Heroes of Light! Come out so we can pulverize you!" he screamed, as he began searching the building.

"Huh, I guess they've turned Peadackle and have decided to try to hide from us. What a pity, I would have liked to see a futile attempt to fight back…" suggested Redtooth.

"Rocky always knew they were cowards. Their leader is yellow, for goodness sake!" agreed Rocky.

"Well, they can run, but they still can't hide. We'll be able to find them sooner or later. In fact, I'm pretty sure they're still in this store." assured Jennifer.

"And once we do, we're going to beat the dung out of them! It'll be the best day of our lives!" laughed Cinder.

"Can I take a nap after this? I'm feeling really tired…it's late at night and I feel like going to sleep…" complained Larry.

"I suppose you can. After all, we should throw a party after we're finished dealing with the scoundrels known as the Heroes of Light…" accepted Othella.

Suddenly, Snotty noticed a peculiar-looking stack of cards …due to his love of games he immediately picked it up.

"Funny, something seems wrong with it…" he thought.

Out of nowhere, the stack of cards immediately exploded in his face. Somehow, Marvin had managed to turn it into a smoke bomb!

"Aargh!" Snotty screamed. To make matters worse, his henchmen had also been caught in the explosion…and now there was an enormous smoke cloud throughout the store, so none of them were able to see anything.

"What's going on?" wondered Redtooth. Suddenly, he noticed a barbecue-flavored Lupe Treat on a table nearby. "Hey, a Lupe Treat!"

The blue mutant Lupe immediately ate the treat…

And shortly afterwards, he passed out on the ground…apparently, Cherry had poured a sleeping serum on the Lupe Treat which he had mistaken for frosting.

"Hey! Why is he sleeping? I thought sleeping was supposed to be my job!" bellowed Larry, who immediately got nervous.

"Oh no! We'll never be able to navigate this smoke cloud without his sense of smell!" screeched Jennifer, who immediately started panicking.

Surprisingly enough, Rocky began to panic as well, due to the fact that smoke in Tyrannia generally meant an incoming volcanic eruption. Granted, there usually weren't active volcanoes in Neopia Central…but he wasn't exactly in a right state of mind.

"We're done for! Lava's going to pour in and we're all going to melt like soup!" screamed Rocky. Had he gone crazy?

"Calm down everyone…this smoke cloud should disappear in just a few m-"

Snotty was then interrupted when the smoke cloud caused the sprinklers to go off, causing Cinder's flames to go out and for Othella to start short-circuiting.

"Aaugh!" they both screamed. Now they were both powerless! No more fire and no more electricity! How were they going to fight the Heroes of Light now?

Immediately, they started running around like Jennifer and Rocky…in the process they tipped over several objects that struck the other members of the Villains of Darkness and made loud noises, causing them all to panic even more.

At this point, they were all running around the store…it was astonishing that things had gone downhill for them so fast, and they had no idea what to do next.

Little did the Villains of Darkness know that during the chaos, the Heroes of Light had managed to escape the building through a back entrance…and they were about to initiate their final stage of their plan.

"You ready Marvin?" Bloony asked his green Mynci comrade.

"As I'll ever be." Marvin answered as he pressed the button.

_Back in the store…_

"How can things get any worse?" wondered Snotty.

Suddenly, the entire store detonated, causing the building to immediately cave in on top of them.

"Noooo!" the Villains of Darkness bellowed as the store collapsed on top of them…they all eventually passed out as the falling debris hit their heads…

Not long afterwards, their mutation serum they had drunk earlier finally wore off, and they all turned back to normal. Apparently it only had a temporary effect.

Our heroes then salvaged the Villains of Darkness from the wreckage, and wondered what they should do with them. There certainly were a lot of possibilities on how to punish them…

"They certainly have caused us a lot of trouble…you think we should back at them somehow?" asked Bloony.

"Let's feed them to the Snowager!" suggested Cherry.

"No no no, that's going too far. I don't think they deserve that." discouraged Gary.

"Should we send them to prison?" Desdemona inquired.

"I don't think so, they'll just break out just like they've done so many times before. They're always so good at breaking out of jail…do they have a Get Out Of Jail Free Card or something?" replied Ursula.

"Then what exactly should we do with them?" asked Sheldon.

Suddenly, a lightbulb appeared on Marvin's head.

"I know exactly what to do with them!" he answered.

_Shortly afterwards…_

The Villains of Darkness awoke to find they had all been tied together, and wondered what was going on.

"What happened?" wondered Snotty as he regained consciousness. "Why are we tied up?"

Redtooth was trying to gnaw through the ropes, to no avail. Were the ropes enchanted or something?

"I'm going to plow into whoever did this!" screamed Cinder.

"I think I broke a nail!" complained Jennifer.

"Rocky gonna get rope burns!" screeched Rocky.

"Let us go, foul ones!" screeched Othella.

Suddenly, they were greeted by the Heroes of Light, who all had smiles on their faces. What were they planning?

"Hey Snotty! I believe you said this was going to be our final battle, did we not?" asked Bloony.

"What! That's impossible! How did we lose? We were superior in every way! How could we have been defeated by a bunch of losers?" inquired Snotty.

"What makes you so sure that you were superior to us? All we had to do was set up an ambush for you…and like the gullible Neopets you are you all fell for it…and then we blew up the store with you inside it so that you would be buried underneath a ton of rubble." Cherry explained.

"How could we have been stupid?" wondered Redtooth. He had been outwitted by his archenemies…just as he had been outwitted by Cherry so many times before.

"Anyways, as you can see, I've prepared a little surprise for you." said Marvin. "Look around and you'll see.

The Villains of Darkness looked around them…and saw that they were on an enormous catapult that Marvin had gotten from the Neopets Trading Post…immediately, they realized what their enemies planned to do, and they all started to panic and beg for mercy. To be more specific, they started trying to bargain with the Heroes of Light.

"No! You can't do this to us! I'll do anything! I'll rob the Neopian Bank and give you a million Neopoints! I'll give you my autograph! I'll cut down the Money Tree! I'll drain the Rainbow Pool! I'll jaywalk down the street! Just don't hurt me!" screeched Snotty.

"I'll give you a Chia Plushie I tore up with my teeth!" bargained Redtooth.

"Rocky will give you rock collection that Rocky stole from Tyrannia!" screamed Rocky.

"I'll give you my nail polish I stole from a beauty shop!" yelled Jennifer.

"I'll give you a priceless painting I roasted by setting it on fire!" cried out Cinder.

"I'll take a nap for twenty-four hours!" bellowed Larry.

"I'll let you use the machine I built to give you superpowers!" shrieked Othella.

"They're not exactly helping their cases, are they?" asked Ursula.

"They certainly aren't." agreed Sheldon. It was as if they wanted to get what was coming to them.

Bloony gave his farewells. "Sayonara, Villains of Darkness, and don't forget to write!"

Marvin pulled the switch, and immediately the Villains of Darkness were all sent flying.

"Curse you Heroes of Light! Curse you and all of your sickening goodness! Aaugh!" they bellowed as they disappeared in the distance.

"Funny, this feels like a reference to a particular TV show…I'm not sure which one…" Bloony stated his thoughts.

"Maybe you should ask the author? Surely he would know." suggested Cherry.

"Would you mind not breaking the fourth wall? It makes me feel uncomfortable." asked Bloony.

"Sorry." apologized Cherry.

_The next day…_

The Heroes of Light were quite excited. In fact, they felt like throwing a party…last night they finally managed to defeat the Villains of Darkness for good! It felt like they were dreaming…and yet they knew somehow that it had actually happened. Of course it helped that Marvin had kept the catapult they had used to hurl the Villains of Darkness into the sky, so they would always remember that particular night in which they gave them what they had coming. Our heroes would never have to worry about them again! Not in a million years!

At least, they hoped so, and that the Villains of Darkness weren't plotting revenge…they noted that the rope they had tied the Villains of Darkness with had probably broken during the launch…and that therefore they might all have been sent flying in different directions…if that was the case, each of them were hopefully scattered all over Neopia and that the Villains of Darkness would have a difficult time reassembling.

But either way, it looked like they wouldn't have to worry about their arch-enemies for a long time…which was a great relief to our heroes considering that they had fought them for so long. Who would have thought that during the final battle against the Villains of Darkness they would end up being the victor? Granted, they had won several times…but this time they had been the underGelert for a change.

Still, Bloony couldn't help but shake the feeling he and his friends were all forgetting about something. Wasn't there someone else who was still plaguing Neopia? He couldn't quite put his mind on it.

Curious, the yellow Blumaroo decided to investigate the news channel to see what was currently happening. Sure enough, he found something that interested him.

"In recent news, the Neopian General Store has been destroyed. Apparently, someone had left the door to the store unlocked which allowed someone to break in." explained one of the news reporters.

Bloony sweatdropped. Would he and his friends get arrested later for blowing up such a valuable building? He supposed he had gotten a little carried away with defeating the Villains of Darkness...but he had done so out of self-defense. After all, they had all mutated into monsters and had been plotting to send him to the hospital.

"In other news, there has been a strange missile located in space bearing a strange insignia." reported the other news reporter.

Immediately, a picture of the missile was shown, and Bloony noticed that the Cult of Apocalypse's signature was on the missile…he got the feeling that it was something really bad, and he quickly went to warn his friends.

"There's a what in outer space?!" bellowed Gary.

"Lord Cataclysm's up to something?!" screeched Sheldon.

"There's an evil Mynci whose living in my closet that's eating my socks and doing the hokey pokey?" Marvin asked.

The other members of the Heroes of Light stared at Marvin.

"Sorry, I went crazy for a second there." explained Marvin.

"We have to get to Apocalypse Castle now! Otherwise, Neopia is doomed!" screamed Bloony.

Immediately, our heroes picked out some cloaks from the Neopian Clothing Store and used the badge Fallenova had left behind to teleport to Faerieland…

_Meanwhile in Apocalypse Castle…_

"Is the missile finally ready?" inquired Lord Cataclysm, who was tapping his foot impatiently. He had waited so long for this particular moment.

"Yes…we already fired it into the sky…" explained Steven. "In less than twenty-four hours…it will explode, and the chemical you invented will be all over Neopia!"

Lord Cataclysm immediately laughed wickedly…which sent shivers down Steven's spine. Should he have helped create that missile? He was starting to have second thoughts.

"I guess I won't be needing you anymore then…consider yourself relieved from duty." he said, and started shapeshifting into a monster.

Immediately, Steven panicked as he realized what his master was about to do. Before Lord Cataclysm could attack him, he went into a nearby escape pod…which spun out of control due to the fact that he had flipped the emergency lever to get away.

"I'm getting dizzy!" bellowed Steven as the escape pod was sent flying.

Where he had gone, the world of Neopia would probably never know.

Lord Cataclysm grunted in annoyance…but he decided that it didn't matter. Still, his minions would probably be suspicious to why Steven had gone missing…but he decided that he wouldn't need them anymore either. In fact, at this particular point, he believed that he no longer needed anyone else. All he needed was his chemical.

Unbeknownst to him however, Fallenova had overheard him speaking to Steven…and she became more suspicious than ever. Did he just try to kill him simply because he didn't need him anymore? Something was very wrong with Lord Cataclysm indeed…

_Are you surprised? The Villains of Darkness are finally gone for good! But our heroes can't celebrate just yet, but Lord Cataclysm is about to launch a missile that will corrupt all of Neopia…can our heroes stop him? We don't have many chapters in the story to go now that the Villains of Darkness are gone…so expect the last few chapters to be intense…_

_Anyways, you'll be able to find out what happens to our heroes next (and to a lesser extent, our villains) in the next chapter of Saving Neopia…which hopefully will be coming soon assuming I don't get lazy…_

_So I guess I'll be seeing you until then. Adios!_


	69. Chapter 69: Stealth Operation

Saving Neopia

_Well, it's about time for our heroes to start bringing the fight to Lord Cataclysm isn't it? It's been a fairly long story, and you all probably want to see an end to it. Of course, now that the Villains of Darkness are finally gone, believe it or not, our heroes can finally focus on serious matters…such as fighting the Cult of Apocalypse and putting a stop for them for good for instance…_

_Of course, if they want to get inside their castle and actually fight their leader…they're going to have to sneak in undetected…and that's where this chapter comes into play._

_And try not to make any jokes about the number of this chapter…in fact, I'd prefer that you keep those thoughts to yourself. After all, I want this fic to be appropriate for minors._

_Now where exactly was I…ah yes?_

_Drum roll please!_

**Chapter 69: Stealth Operation**

After buying some cloaks that resembled the ones that the Cult of Apocalypse members always wore from the Neopian Clothing Store and a quick trip to their dressing room, our heroes were ready to infiltrate Faerieland and to get to Apocalypse Castle.

"You ready everyone? Because once we use this badge there's probably not going to be turning back…in other words, either we manage to win and save all of Neopia, which naturally is preferable, or that we lose and that Lord Cataclysm manages to win, which hopefully won't happen. That means you won't be able to Peadackle out, Gary." Bloony forewarned.

Gary whimpered, as he was already thinking about doing so. He was so frightened at the many things that could go wrong, like always. Like Bloony said, if they lost, horrible things would surely befall Neopia, things that would make it more frightening that the Haunted Woods itself, which was really saying something.

But he eventually agreed to this decision like the other members of the Heroes of Light, as they really had no choice on the matter. After all, they really didn't want Lord Cataclysm to succeed with his evil plans, as they would ruin Neopia forever.

So they all grabbed onto the shiny-looking badge that Fallenova had left behind during their previous encounter, and they were instantly transported to Faerieland in an enormous burst of light.

"Oh dear." thought Bloony.

They immediately noticed how bad things had gotten ever since Lord Cataclysm had defeated Fyora and his minions had taken over, and began to feel really depressed. It looked like Faerieland had been changed entirely, with the sign reading "Welcome To Faerieland" now "Welcome To Apocalypseland".

"Why did they have to be so cruel? This place was my home…at least until I moved to the Haunted Woods." inquired Desdemona.

"I miss the pretty faeries that always wore those fancy dresses…" complained Marvin.

Ursula once again punched Marvin in the shoulder, causing him to cry out in pain.

"All the more reason to stop the Cult of Apocalypse." agreed Sheldon.

"I am so scared! And I need to use the bathroom!" exclaimed Gary.

"You're always scared…and you always need to the bathroom." retorted Cherry.

Unsurprisingly, Cult of Apocalypse members were now all over the place…suffice to say they were glad they were currently in disguise so that they wouldn't get detected… and that therefore they wouldn't risk getting caught.

Naturally, Bloony was the one to take charge of the whole operation, as he began to give out orders to his teammates as usual.

"Alright team, let's look around for the portal so that we can get to our destination so that we can get home...unless of course, Faerieland is already your home, in which case you can probably go to bed after this is done. Wait, where was I? Ah yes. If any of you find anything suspicious, come and see me. Just be careful not to dawdle too much or to get caught, I wouldn't want Lord Cataclysm to succeed in his plans. We are on a time-based mission after all, so we really shouldn't waste time."

Our heroes did as Bloony asked…but unfortunately it seemed that they couldn't find the portal anywhere. After all, Faerieland was huge…and judging from what they could tell the portal was quite small.

If only they had a map of some kind so that they could navigate Faerieland more easily…

_At the gate of Faerieland Palace…_

Cherry looked around, and noticed that there were two muscular Cult of Apocalypse members (more specifically, a Draik and a Krawk) standing guard to Faerieland Palace (which was now known as Apocalypse Palace, and had been repainted black as ink) that were holding two enormous spears in front of the gate. Apparently, they were making sure that nobody could get in without authorization.

"Halt! Who goes there!" stated one of the guards in a deep and booming voice.

"Do you always have to say that?" asked the other guard, curious to why his friend was acting that way.

"I just like saying that." replied the first. Apparently, he also liked giving people simple answers to questions.

"I was just wondering if I could get in." asked Cherry. "Let's just say that I'm really eager to get inside the palace."

"Do you have an ID? Surely you should have it with you somewhere." inquired the guard.

Cherry immediately sweatdropped. She wasn't aware that each member of the Cult of Apocalypse had an ID for identification. Of course, she didn't really know that much about them, other than they were working for Lord Cataclysm and they were all being used for his evil plots.

"If you want to get inside the palace, you're going to need an ID. I hope you didn't misplace yours, because if you did, you're not getting inside. End of discussion." the guards explained.

Where was she going to get an ID? She decided that her best plan of action was to go get the others.

She immediately saw Bloony, who as it turns out was still looking for the portal to Apocalypse Castle.

"Hey, Bloony!" exclaimed Cherry.

"Did you find the portal?" inquired Bloony.

"I think it might be somewhere in Faerieland Palace…there were two guards standing in front of the gates. Apparently, we need an ID so that we can get in…" Cherry explained.

"I see…I'm assuming that each member of the Cult of Apocalypse probably has one…that way they can get to know each other." pondered the yellow Blumaroo.

The duo immediately went to fetch Marvin…who was eating at the Cult of Apocalypse cafeteria. Bloony immediately groaned at this revelation. Why didn't he listen to him? Cherry, on the other hand simply seemed rather happy to be in an area with a large amount of food. After all, she was a very big eater, just like her Petpet.

"Marvin, we're supposed to be looking around!" Bloony whispered into his ear.

"I'm sorry! I was hungry! This place is making me so nervous." he apologized.

Cherry happily ate the rest of his lunch. It tasted just like Peadackle…which made sense considering that one of the food items Marvin bought was Peadackle Wings.

"Anyways, according to Cherry, we'll need an ID if we're going to get inside the Faerieland Palace. I wonder where we can get those." he explained.

"Oh those? A Cult of Apocalypse member told me that we could get them from the Faerieland Gift Shop…we can get our pictures taken and register ourselves as official Cult of Apocalypse members." he answered.

With that new information in mind…our heroes then went to fetch Ursula…who was looking around the Healing Springs (now renamed the Toxic Springs) to see if she could find anything.

"Ugh…why did they have to make it so nasty? I wonder how much they polluted it to make it that nasty green color…in fact, I wonder if it's ever going to be the same again." she thought out loud.

"Ursula, we need to talk to you! Apparently, we need an ID to get inside the Faerie Palace!" Marvin explained.

"Well, I guess things just got a little more complicated. I got tired of searching anyway. Faerieland's a Snorklesty now that the Cult of Apocalypse have taken over." answered Ursula.

And so the four of them left…unaware that they weren't the only ones there.

"Um, is anyone going to help me?" asked the Healing Faerie, whose tail was sticking out from a nearby drain pipe.

Our heroes then went to the Faerieland Library (which was now known as the Apocalypse Library, which was filled with books about how great the Cult of Apocalypse was), where Gary was trying to hide from the Cult of Apocalypse members. Bloony immediately facepalmed. Apparently, Marvin wasn't the only one who decided not to listen to orders.

"You do realize that you're in disguise, right?" inquired the leader of the Heroes of Light.

"I know I know! It's just this place is making me nervous!" yelled Gary.

The Cult of Apocalypse library keeper immediately told him "Sshhh!" Apparently, even the Cult of Apocalypse Library was supposed to be a quiet place.

"Anyways, we're going to need an ID from the Faerieland Employment Agency…we'll need to get our pictures taken." the leader of the Heroes of Light told the purple Grarrl.

"Not that! I hate getting my picture taken!" Gary exclaimed. He hated the bright flash of light, and was worried that it would make him go blind.

"I'm afraid that you've got no choice. Now come along!" ordered Bloony.

As our heroes left the library, they failed to notice the Library Faerie, who was being suspended from the ceiling with a gag in her mouth.

Our heroes then went searching for Sheldon, who was running around all over the place. Apparently, he was having a really hard time searching for the portal and was using all his speed so that he can find it.

"Ugh, I forgot how speedy he was." pondered the Blumaroo. How were they going to get his attention when he wouldn't stand in one spot? It seemed impossible.

Cherry answered this question for him when she pulled out a banana peel she had gotten from the cafeteria earlier…Sheldon didn't pay attention to where he was running and naturally he slipped right over it.

"What's the big idea!" he exclaimed, shaking his fist at Cherry.

"Sheldon, listen, we need to get to the Faerieland Employment Agency so that we can get an ID." explained Bloony.

"That way we can get inside Faerieland Palace and hopefully find where Lord Cataclysm is…" continued Marvin.

"I see…I suppose that we should head there then." Sheldon agreed.

Finally, our heroes went to fetch Desdemona, who was spinning the Wheel of Excitement (which was now known as the Wheel of Apocalypse and was now much less colorful than before). She was currently standing in line along with a bunch of Cult of Apocalypse members. Currently, one of them was spinning a wheel…it spun around for a while…and eventually it landed…on the disease icon.

"Should I even be surprised anymore? I can't believe how incompetent my teammates can be sometimes." thought Bloony.

"Aw, man!" exclaimed the Cult of Apocalypse member (a Flotsam). Not only had he wasted 500 Neopoints, but now he was going to catch a cold or something!

Immediately, another cult member (a Jetsam) came by and injected the unfortunate Neopet with a dirty needle, causing him to become infected with Sneezles.

"Achoo!" the unfortunate member explained.

"Next!" exclaimed the Jetsam.

The line continued advancing towards the wheel, until eventually Desdemona was up for a spin.

"What will I land on this time?" wondered the Dark Faerie. Hopefully she would end up getting 20,000 Neopoints from the wheel…but for some reason, the Cult of Apocalypse members always seemed to land on the ? icon, which only gave them a small amount of Neopoints that didn't exactly cover how much they spent to spin the wheel in the first place.

"Psst! Desdemona!" murmured Bloony.

"Oh hey. What is it?" asked Desdemona.

"We need an ID to get inside Faerieland Palace." he explained.

"Well, that's a problem. Last time I checked, we didn't bring any sort of identification with us." answered the Dark Faerie.

"Yes, I know. That's why we need to head to the Faerieland Employment Agency. That way we can get an ID so that we don't have to worry about it anymore." Bloony told her.

"Alright then! Let's go!" exclaimed Desdemona.

As they left, they failed to notice that the Light Faerie who was normally in charge of the Wheel of Excitement had been strapped to the back of the wheel with a sock in her mouth. Apparently, the Cult of Apocalypse would be playing a knife-throwing game in the near future.

After our heroes were all together again, they went to the Faerieland Employment Agency (which was known as the Apocalypse Employment Agency, where Neopets could officially be accepted into the ranks of the Cult of Apocalypse).

Our heroes went to talk to the receptionist (who was a blue Eyrie).

"Excuse me? We lost our IDs…could you give us some more?" Bloony asked.

The Eyrie nodded, and beckoned them towards the picture room.

After signing a few papers, our heroes were able to have their pictures taken and get their IDs. Naturally, our heroes had to hold Gary's hand so that he wouldn't run away whimpering.

"Say Cult of Apocalypse!" the Cult of Apocalypse member (a Kyrii) exclaimed.

"You can't make me! I don't want to!" exclaimed Gary.

"Do you want to stop Lord Cataclysm or not?" whispered Bloony.

Trembling, Gary said "Cult…of Apocalypse."

The Kyrii then took his picture in a flash of light…causing him to run away screaming.

"I'll go catch him." stated Sheldon, who ran towards where he had left.

_A few minutes later…_

"Do you have an ID?" asked the guards.

"Yes, we do." Bloony exclaimed, handing it out so they could examine it.

"Alright then, you can go through. Just don't take too long, there are a bunch of other members that are trying to get in so that they can tour the palace." they said, lowering their spears so that they could pass.

As the Heroes of Light went through, the guards began speaking to each other.

"You know, it's funny, I could have sworn that I've seen them somewhere before. Did I take them out to get a slushie or something? Or did I ask them for their autograph? I'm not exactly sure." asked one of the guards.

"It's probably nothing, everyone knows that Neopets always look alike, especially the ones that never use a paintbrush. You shouldn't worry about it. Now let's get back to work and hope the boss raises our paycheck." answered the other guard.

_Inside the Faerieland Palace…_

Our heroes looked around them, and immediately realized it looked even worse on the inside that it did on the outside. All the statues of Fyora had been replaced with statues of Lord Cataclysm, and the pretty decorations had been replaced by evil-looking ones. The Cult of Apocalypse had certainly made themselves at home during their long stay.

"I wonder what architect is working with them…" thought Bloony. What kind of evil architect would want to work with the Cult of Apocalypse to make Faerieland Palace a horrible place? Ultimately, he decided that it was best not to dwell on it. After all, they had far more important things to do than think about horrible architecture.

Our heroes realized there were even more of their enemies inside, and therefore they had to be fairly careful they didn't see them too closely. Granted, they weren't exactly known for their intelligence, but it was still rather important not to take risks. Thankfully, most of them were wandering around aimlessly, and some of them appeared to be lost.

"Excuse me? Do you know where the portal to the Apocalypse Castle is? We need to get there so that we can have a word with Lord Cataclysm." asked Bloony.

"I believe that they put it in the Hidden Tower for security purposes…and that you'll need to climb the Endless Staircase." the cult of Apocalypse member (a Scorchio) explained.

"An endless staircase? How are we supposed to climb that? We'll starve to death trying to climb that!" inquired Cherry.

"To be honest with you, I'm not exactly sure…I think it has something to do with a bunch of statues…but other than that I have no idea. Funnily enough, I don't think many Cult of Apocalypse members actually go up there nowadays…maybe the dark portal gives them bad vibes or something." he responded.

After sneaking past the rest of the Cult of Apocalypse members and heading towards the top of the castle, our heroes found the Endless Staircase soon enough…as with the rest of Apocalypse Palace, it was now painted black, and instead of Quiggle Statues pointing in different directions there were now Fallenova Statues pointing in different directions.

"Funny, I was expecting more Lord Cataclysm Statues." thought Bloony.

"You think we're supposed to go in the directions they're pointing? They always seem to be pointing left or right." Marvin asked.

"The Cult of Apocalypse member said that it had something to do with the statues…so I suppose that we are." agreed Ursula.

And so our heroes followed the directions of the Fallenova Statues…and soon enough they managed to reach the top.

"So much for being endless." thought Bloony. In retrospect, maybe they should have come up with a new name for the Endless Staircase. Was the Ridiciously Long Staircase or the Staircase of Statues a better name for it? He couldn't decide on just one.

Soon enough, our heroes noticed an enormous black portal standing several feet away from them. Apparently, it was the way towards Apocalypse Castle, and therefore the way they needed to go.

"This is it guys. Let's go through so that we can get this adventure over with…it's been really long and I'm starting to get a little sleepy to be honest." Bloony said.

"I have to admit, we have come a long way haven't we? It feels like just yesterday when we left Roo Island." responded Cherry.

"Ah yes, to be honest with you I'm surprised we actually managed to make it this far. We've encountered some really nasty foes…and yet somehow we've always managed to prevail." agreed Marvin.

"To think the portal to our last leg of our journey is right in front of us…and that soon we'll be in the final inning of the game." Ursula murmured.

"I'm scared! I want to go back! I just can't take it anymore!" screamed Gary.

"We've gotten too far to back out now. Surely you don't want everything we've done to go to waste, now, do you?" replied Sheldon.

Gary reluctantly agreed to this.

"Alright then, let's go inside and give Lord Cataclysm what he's had coming for a really long time…" suggested Desdemona.

And so our heroes went inside the portal, ready for the final chapter of their adventure…

_Meanwhile, in the Apocalypse Castle Throne Room…_

Lord Cataclysm grinned to himself. In just a few hours his plan would finally be complete…soon all of Neopia would be corrupted by his horrific chemical…

Suddenly, an alarm went off. Apparently, there was an intruder…or rather, seven intruders.

"Just as I thought. It was only a matter of time before they finally arrived to stop me…they're just in time for the big show. Everything is going according to plan."

Immediately, the Cult of Apocalypse members stormed into the room, along with Fallenova and the Black Knight.

"I believe you called us?" they asked.

"Yes…I want you to go out there and bring the Heroes of Light to me…in case you're curious, I've got something rather special planned for them…" he demanded.

The Cult of Apocalypse members nodded, and they went to search for them.

"As for you two…I want you to stand outside my throne room and make sure that the Heroes of Light don't get inside without my approval…in fact, feel free to go out all-out…just make sure they they're still alive when you're finished with them…" he explained.

Fallenova and the Black Knight nodded…although they were rather confused. Why did their boss want the Heroes of Light alive all of a sudden? What exactly was he planning? These thoughts clouded their heads and they stood outside the throne room.

_Meanwhile, in Kreludor…_

Professor Nyctus let out a sad sigh. He enjoyed working with the Grundos, but it just wasn't the same without his apprentice. He missed him horribly, and he wondered if he would ever see anything.

Curious, he noticed a shooting star, and he immediately decided to make a wish.

"I wish I could see my apprentice again. It's been so long…and I feel like I could get a lot more done without him…" he murmured.

Suddenly, he noticed that the shooting star seemed to be getting…bigger.

"What in the galaxy?" he thought.

Immediately, the shooting star crashed into the ground…apparently, it was actually an escape pod of some kind.

"Wait, is that-"

Suddenly, the escape pod opened, revealing none other than his assistant, Steven! He immediately opened his jaw in surprise.

Steven noticed him as well…and he appeared to be as surprised as he was.

"You're alive!" the Xweetok exclaimed.

The two of them immediately got into a tender hug. After being without each other for so long, it wasn't a big surprise that they both missed each other horribly.

Out of curiousity, the Grundos began to gather around. Apparently, they noticed what Professor Nyctus and Steven were up to, and they started to wonder if they should all get into a group hug with him.

Professor Nyctus eventually noticed the large amount of Grundos standing around him, so he decided to introduce his assistant to the oblivious Grundos.

"Let me explain. You see this is my apprentice, Steven…I've worked with him for quite a while now…and unfortunately I lost him after I was sent flying into outer space…" he told the Grundos.

"But apparently fate smiled upon me, because today it looks like he's going to be paying us a visit."

"Um, hello?" greeted Steven.

Suffice to say, it looked like the mad doctor and his assistant were together once again…and hopefully it would stay that way for many days to come…

_Outside the Mystery Island Training School…_

"What's the matter, master?" Shuriken asked his master with curiousity. He was currently standing outside, with a worried look on his face.

"I sense a disturbance…the Heroes of Light are walking into a trap…a trap which has been devised by Lord Cataclysm himself…he knew that they would come for him eventually, so he's decided to take matters into his own hands." answered the Techo Master.

"That's horrible! What can we do?" asked the ninja Meerca.

"Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do, my apprentice. I have done research about the Cult of Apocalypse's leader, and I have made a shocking discovery. Apparently, Lord Cataclysm is nigh-invulnerable due to the darkness he is made from, and that he can only be destroyed by the Faerie magic he is made from. However, I believe that in the end…there shall be a light in the end of the tunnel…"

"A light in the end of the tunnel?" inquired Shuriken.

"Yes, my young apprentice, although technically it's more of a figure of speech than anything else. Nonetheless, it may be the answer to our prayers. But for now, we can only hope for the best." The Techo Master explained.

"I sure hope that the Heroes of Light will be safe…they saved me from that horrible poison Lord Cataclysm gave me." thought Shuriken.

The two of them stared in the sky…wondering how things would turn it in the end.

_Well, isn't this an epic chapter…our heroes have managed to invade Apocalypse Castle…can they make it to Lord Cataclysm and put an end to his horrific evil for good? Time will only tell…_

_I'm glad that you've managed to stick with me so far…to think in just a few chapters this story will end and we'll finally get to receive a conclusion…_

_Do you think I should make a sequel for this story? To be honest with you, I've actually got a few plans for that in the event I ever do decide to make a sequel for this story…but I still want your opinion, as well of a few ideas of your own if you have them. After all, I wouldn't want to make you disappointed…and I certainly wouldn't want the sequel to go through sequelitis, since everyone hates that._

_So feel free to leave me a few reviews about the subject…I'd certainly like to hear from you. So until next time…_


	70. Chapter 70: The Cult's Last Stand

Saving Neopia

_In this chapter, our heroes will storm Apocalypse Castle and make their way towards Lord Cataclysm…now that they've made it to his lair there won't be much standing between our heroes and their target, am I right?_

_Of course, the Cult of Apocalypse isn't going to make it easy for our heroes now that their quest is almost over…after all, there's bound to be a bunch of guards that will spot our heroes and start attacking them…_

_Can our heroes make it past the final leg of their journey and make it to Lord Cataclysm? Or will their guardian Faeries finally leave them? We can only hope the former…after all, Neopia needs them more than ever…it's time for our heroes to live up to the story title and _

**Chapter 70: The Cult's Last Stand**

Immediately after our heroes used the portal to Apocalypse Castle, they were instantly transported…unfortunately, it seemed that there was a security measure installed into it…and that their cloaks and IDs had disappeared! Their disguises were gone, and now they wouldn't be able to sneak around anymore.

"Oh no! Now how will we sneak past now? We can't just walk by the Cult of Apocalypse members if we don't look like them!" bellowed Cherry.

"I guess we'll just have to fight our way to Lord Cataclysm from now on. After all, that's what we've been doing for quite some time now, hasn't it? It seems like just yesterday when that dark chemical of his caused everything in Neopia to go crazy. I look forward to making him take the consequences for his actions." explained Bloony.

"I could always cast an invisibility spell so that the Cult of Apocalypse wouldn't be able to see us…that way we could continue sneaking by and avoid any unnecessary encounters." pointed out Desdemona.

"Wouldn't that only affect us temporarily? Last time I check most spells don't last forever…except for the powerful ones…and knowing our luck we'll probably end up having it wear off when we're surrounded by Cult of Apocalypse members." asked Marvin.

"Unfortunately, yes…I suppose it wouldn't be that helpful…I guess we'll just have to fight whatever foe we encounter." nodded the Dark Faerie.

Bloony shrugged. "Just use whatever spells you can…the more spells you can cast on our enemies, the better. It's a shame that you're not a Water Faerie though, a healing spell would really come in handy in case one of us gets injured."

As soon as our heroes began walking towards the castle, they were spotted by several Cult of Apocalypse members. They didn't seem too happy to see them in their own territory.

"What in the world? Oh crud, it's those stupid Heroes of Light the boss was talking about! How in Neopia did they even make it here? I thought we were using heavy security or something!" exclaimed a surprised Cult of Apocalypse member.

"Who cares? Maybe if we can take them down the boss will give us a raise? Maybe we'll even get promoted!" yelled another Cult of Apocalypse member.

"Sounds good to me! Let's take them down and present them to Lord Cataclysm! That way we'll finally get the recognition we all deserve! And to double the Neopoints he's giving us!" agreed yet another Cult of Apocalypse member.

"Charge!" the villainous Neopets all exclaimed at once.

Immediately, they were attacked by many different members of the cult they had been facing for so long at once. Thankfully, our heroes were quite strong at this point, and they were able to hurtle through them like butter using their various superpowers and whatnot.

"Why do our enemies have to be so powerful? I'd rather pick on someone that's weak than fight someone who's my own size…it's always a lot easier!" screamed the incompetent minions as they were sent flying around the battlefield like bowling pins.

"That wasn't so hard, was it? And to think we're actually fighting them on their own turf for a change now…" asked Marvin.

"That was only the first wave, Marvin. I can't help but shake the feeling that things are going to get a lot worse as we continue. Who knows what they've got in store for us?" warned Bloony.

Naturally, our genre-savvy hero turned out to be right. Shortly afterwards, they encountered some more Cult of Apocalypse members…and they were all equipped with deadly Hidden Tower weapons! It looked like they had a tough fight on their hands.

"They really don't want us to make it to their leader, do they? It seems like they're doing everything in their power to stop us…and to think they were so incompetent the first few times we fought them." inquired Ursula.

"Where did they even get those? Hidden Tower weapons aren't exactly cheap, you know. I heard some of them cost ten million Neopoints! Did they rob the Neopian Bank or something? Or did they get lucky and win the Neopian Lottery?" asked Marvin.

"Well, seeing though they conquered Faerieland, they probably managed to locate the Hidden Tower eventually…and seeing though Fyora wasn't around to stop them, they likely were able to help themselves to whatever expensive weapon they wanted…good thing Super Attack Peas aren't sold at the Hidden Tower or we'd be finished." theorized Bloony.

"They have Ghostkerbombs." warned Marvin.

"What the Flotsam?!" bellowed Bloony.

Immediately, our heroes were hit by an aforementioned Ghostkerbomb, which exploded into their faces and did a lot of damage.

"Yeow!" our heroes exclaimed, as the deadly explosive turned them black as soot.

Thankfully, Bloony had a few healing scrolls, which our heroes used to patch themselves up and curiously caused the soot they were covered in to disappear.

"Let's be more careful next time. The next explosive that goes off could leave us having to peel our lips off the ground." suggested Bloony.

"Agreed." whimpered Cherry.

"They've got Rainbow Clockwork Grundos!" screeched Gary.

"What is this, some kind of minefield?! Maybe I should play a game of Neggsweeper when this is all over…" complained Sheldon.

Thankfully, our heroes were smart enough to dodge the explosive that time…the Rainbow Clockwork Grundo walked right past them…and exploded into a large amount of colorful smoke.

"Best not to breathe that in, it might be poisonous." noted the orange Skeith.

Cherry ducked as a Lupe knight pulled out a Sword of Skardsen and started to slice her with it.

"You know, I really don't know what the word "Skardsen" means. Who the heck came up with that word?" he spoke.

"That's because it's an anagram for "darkness"." replied Cherry.

Marvin was soaked by King Kelpbeard's Trident, as a Peophin wearing maractite started trying to jab him with it.

"Ugh! Now I'm going to have to dry myself off! You wouldn't happen to have a towel, now would you? That would really be useful." yelled the unfortunate Mynci.

"As a matter of fact, I don't. It looks like you're all washed up! Have fun learning what it's like to be a puddle!" he taunted.

Ursula was slashed by a Pirate Captain's Cutlass by a vicious Pirate Krawk, which suffice to say really hurt.

"Yarr, yer gonna walk the plank, lassie! Yer going to be sleeping with the fishies, so I hope ye brought a pillow and a blanket!" exclaimed the pirate.

"Yeowch! I'm glad that Cherry managed to defeat Captain Scarblade…he and his pirates were horrible." she thought.

Gary was attacked by a rather disgusting farmer Kacheek, who started throwing Battle Dung at him.

"Like it? I found it inside my septic tank! If you want I can also show you my Glowing Battle Dung…or maybe you want my Rancid Battle Dung? I left some of it in the sun to dry!" the hillbilly exclaimed.

"That's really gross! Stop it! You're freaking me out! I don't want to be covered with dung! And I don't want to see your dung collection, either! I want to be squeaky clean, just like the rest of my house! Leave me be!" the purple Grarrl exclaimed.

Bloony was attacked by a Fire Shoyru who was wielding a Portable Kiln, who was laughing maniacally as he did so.

"Burn baby burn!" the pyromaniac exclaimed.

"I'm not painted baby, I'm painted yellow. And didn't your mother teach you not to play with fire? You should know that fire is dangerous." the yellow Blumaroo asked.

"My mother openly encouraged it!" the pyro exclaimed.

Bloony facepalmed.

Sheldon found himself facing a Koi who kept healing himself using a Jade Scorchstone and shielding himself using Thyora's Tear. Apparently, he was quite fond of hacking.

"Stop it! That's getting really annoying! And I thought you could also only use them once per battle or something! Quit cheating!" he exclaimed.

"How about…no! You'll be fighting me for all eternity! You will never be able to damage me, let alone defeating me! Mwahahaha!" the Koi taunted.

Eventually, it became apparent to our heroes that they weren't making much headway. It was if they were too equal…

Suddenly, our heroes all remembered something important…hadn't they gotten Battledome weapons during the Faerieland War? Surely they could use them to gain the upper hand?

Our heroes started counterattacking the Cult of Apocalypse members that were standing in their way…sword clashed against sword…scorchstone was used to heal wounds…and bombs were used against bomb.

Shortly afterwards, they encountered even more Cult of the Apocalypse members, who started using Transmogrification Potions to transform themselves into monsters.

"Not this again! The Villains of Darkness gave us so much trouble when they used those against us…why do they have to be using them against us now?" pouted Bloony.

"It's a good thing Cult of Apocalypse members aren't as strong as they were…maybe they were running out of ideas?" nodded Cherry.

One of the members even used a Transmogrification Potion that made him grow giant…fortunately; he became too heavy to support the ground and crashed through the floor, causing him to fall into the vast ocean below and make an enormous splash.

"Well, that Transmogrification Potion didn't work out too well for him." thought Marvin.

The mutated Cult of Apocalypse members were joined by several other Cult of Apocalypse members…who were piloting some rather destructive robots. Apparently, they had taken a lesson or two from Professor Nyctus and Steven.

"Prepare for total pwnage! Woot woot woot!" they exclaimed.

"What the heck are they saying?" asked Cherry.

"It doesn't really matter to be honest. Let's try to find a way to sabotage them, shall we?" advised Marvin.

"Like…what?" said Ursula.

Marvin answered by pouring orange juice into one of the robots, causing it to shortcircuit and explode, in front of some of the other Cult of Apocalypse members.

"What in tarnat-" the unfortunate minions exclaimed, right before the explosion sent them flying.

Unfortunately, the robot-piloting Cult of Apocalypse members did not approve of one of the mechs exploding, and they started firing lasers and some missiles at the green Mynci.

"I'm-a firin' my lazor! Blarrg!" they yelled.

"Sheesh! You make me sound cool in comparision!" retorted Marvin as he dodged the deadly lasers.

"No fair! You were supposed to be vaporized! That would have been so awesome!" they exclaimed.

"You've been watching way too many sci-fi movies." countered Bloony, right before he delivered a devastating punch that caused all the robots to topple over like dominoes.

"Nooo! You took down the robots of doom! You're going to pay!" exclaimed one of the mutant Cult of Apocalypse minions.

Suddenly, their mutated potions wore off, and they turned back to normal.

"Uh-oh!" they all shouted.

"Let me show you a real laser." the nerdy Mynci stated, right before he pulled out a laser cannon and burnt the unfortunate Cult of Apocalypse members to a crisp.

"Aargh! We've been deep-fried! Run for your rawness!" the burned Neopets yelled, right before they ran like cowards.

"It seems to me that they were all bark and no bite." spoke Desdemona.

"I'm just glad that none of you speak the way they did." concurred Ursula. "Sheesh, I wonder how many forum threads they ruined."

"It seems that they've finally learned their lesson and are going serious. If we want to fight Lord Cataclysm, we're going to have to fight for it. So let's give it our all, shall we? I'm sure if we all work together, we might be able to win this." Bloony answered.

"I don't like fighting! It's really messy! I'd rather settle for diplomatic relations! Surely that would be preferable to all this, wouldn't it?" complained Gary, who already had several cuts and bruises from particularly nasty encounters.

"We don't really have a choice, Gary. Either we fight or Neopia ends up Neodystopia and Lord Cataclysm manages to win. And I don't think using diplomatic relations to make peace with the Cult of Apocalypse will work considering who their leader is." replied Sheldon.

Eventually, the Cult of Apocalypse members resorted to raising the bridge to the castle moat, hoping that they wouldn't be able to get inside the castle without it. Thankfully, our heroes were too fast (Sheldon especially, since he was the fastest member by a fair jot), and they were able to get across before the bridge rose completely. Our heroes slowly opened the door, ready to whatever was inside the castle.

"That was scary! I was so scared! We could have fallen to our doom and ended up like that giant Cult of Apocalypse minion we fought earlier!" Gary yelled as they entered.

"What matters is that we didn't, and that we managed to make it inside the castle. All that's left now is that we find Lord Cataclysm and teach him a lesson about ruining Neopia for all the innocent Neopets." responded Bloony.

"Right…he's got to be somewhere around the castle…of course seeing though he's probably more cowardly than Gary himself he might be in hiding. Knowing him he's going to be heavily guarded." agreed Cherry.

"We'll have to look around the castle for him then. Seeing though he's a shapeshifter he might have disguised himself…so we'll have to keep our eyes open." nodded Marvin.

Immediately afterwards, the green Mynci fell into a pitfall trap that had been set up by several Cult of Apocalypse members earlier. It seemed that Lord Cataclysm had set booby traps all across the palace for our heroes to stumble into.

"Aah!" the nerdy hero screamed as gravity kicked on and he fell.

Thankfully, Desdemona was able to rescue him in the nick of time.

Unfortunately, this wasn't the only trap our heroes would have to face. Soon afterwards they saw an enormous spike pit…and a narrow bridge leading them across.

"Better watch our step…that bridge looks like it's highly unstable. Let's take it one step at a t-" thought Bloony.

Unfortunately, Gary didn't follow directions. Instead, he panicked and ran across the bridge as fast as he could…this had disastrous results as it caused part of it to snap and for him to end up hanging from one of the planks.

"Help! I don't want to fall to my doom! I wish I was a Faerie Neopet right about now…and I certainly wish not to end up in a pit of spikes!" he screamed.

Already, the Faerie of Death was standing at the bottom of the spike pit, waiting to catch the Grarrl if he fell. Desdemona gave her a wave, curiously enough.

Luckily, Sheldon managed to pull him up in the nick of time, so that our heroes wouldn't be one member short.

"Why does the author have to keep breaking the fourth wall…" thought Bloony. Apparently, he wanted the story to be serious instead of funny despite the tragedies that they had endured fairly recently.

Shortly afterwards, our heroes entered another room…and immediately the ceiling began descending upon them.

"Hurry! If that ceiling falls on us we're going to be pancakes!" Bloony yelled.

"I certainly would like to eat some pancakes that are covered with syrup right about now. I'm getting hungry." complained Cherry.

"You can eat later. For now, run!" exclaimed Marvin.

And so our heroes managed to avoid this deadly obstacle so that new pancakes wouldn't be sold at the Neopets Food Shop and made it to the next room.

"That was close." thought the yellow Blumaroo.

Suddenly, our heroes noticed that the walls were closing in, and that they were covered with spikes.

"Run for your life! Again!" ordered Bloony.

Thankfully, our heroes survived yet another attempt on their life…as they made it to the open door in the nick of time.

"Who the heck keeps building all these death traps!" exclaimed Desdemona.

"We're best off not knowing." answered Gary.

Our heroes then encountered several swinging blades…they would have to time their jumps accurately if they didn't want to end up getting sliced in half.

"Jump!" Bloony exclaimed.

Our heroes fortunately were cautious, as they began jumping across the blades to get to the other side.

"I'm exhausted…" complained Sheldon.

"We all are…maybe we should try to catch our breath?" inquired Marvin.

Our heroes stopped for a minute to catch their breath…thankfully, there weren't any traps in this particular room, just a very long hallway with a rather long carpet for them to walk on.

"Well, I guess we had better see where it leads. I get the feeling that it might lead to Lord Cataclysm himself…funny, it seems like he's actually inviting us…maybe this is all an enormous party for him or something?" suggested Bloony.

At the end of the overly long hallway, they saw Fallenova (who was now dressed in her red battle armor, curiously enough) and the Black Knight, who were standing guard right outside the throne room. It looked like they were going to have to defeat them if they wanted an audience with Lord Cataclysm.

"Not these guys again…they gave enough trouble the last time we fought them…how are we supposed to beat them both at once?" thought Bloony. It looked like they had quite a fight on their hands.

"Well, I have to admit I'm impressed. It looks like you've actually made it all the way here. Unfortunately for you, we're going to knock you all the way back to Neopia Central! You had better pack your bags!" exclaimed the Black Knight.

"I had a feeling that you'd make it this far, but even if you defeated us once before, we'll make sure that it doesn't happen again!" continued Fallenova.

And so our heroes got into a fight with two of their most dangerous foes, it was a rather difficult battle, to say the very least. In fact, it was one of the hardest battles they ever had to fight throughout their adventure.

"Yeowch!" screamed Marvin as he was electrocuted by Fallenova's lightning.

"Aaugh!" screeched Ursula as she was crushed underneath the Black Knight's hammer.

"Give it up!" the mutant Grundo exclaimed, as he transformed his hammer into a sword.

Cherry let out one of her sonic burps, which caused the dark knight to go off-balance and for the sword to pierce his armor.

"Aargh!" he exclaimed, as he pulled the sword out.

Our heroes then began attacking the gap in the armor the sword had made, causing the Black Knight a significant amount of harm.

"Fallenova, aid me!" he exclaimed.

Immediately, the Nova Faerie started using her water magic to start healing the Grundo's injuries…but Desdemona would have none of that, as she cast a spell that temporarily turned him into a zombie to counter the healing.

"Gah! Stop healing me!" he yelled.

"How come?" asked Fallenova.

"Everyone knows that zombies are harmed by healing spells…it sends them back to the dust of the earth!" bellowed the Black Knight.

"How am I supposed to heal you then?" asked the Nova Faerie.

"I don't know, just stop using water magic on me until it wears off!" the Black Knight exclaimed.

Unfortunately, by the time the spell had worn off, the Grundo was already exhausted…and he now desperately needed healing. Fallenova only managed to heal his injuries partially before she was interrupted by a rocket launcher to the face.

"Aargh!" she exclaimed.

"Yeah! Nailed her!" squealed Marvin.

Unfortunately, this made the Black Knight very angry. Immediately, he picked up the Mynci and started squeezing him tightly.

"Aargh! Let go!" he screamed as the knight's massive strength began taking effect. If he kept it up, Marvin was going to break something!

Ursula responded to this by giving a quick jab to the Grundo, causing him to let go of him and drop him on the ground. She was still unfinished however, as she immediately followed up by knocking her opponent into Fallenova, knocking the breath out of the Faerie.

"Good job, Ursula!" congratulated Cherry.

"The fight's not over yet. Let's save the congratulatory speeches for later." ordered Bloony.

Soon enough, both of them got back up…and they began launching a counterattack. Fallenova struck Ursula with lightning, while the Black Knight turned his sword into an axe and started chopping our heroes with it.

"Aargh!" the blue Usul exclaimed, as her skeleton became visible from the electrocution.

"Stop it! Axes are scary! Lumberjacks use them to chop trees down!" screamed Gary.

Fallenova responded to this by setting Gary on fire.

"Ouch! Fire is super-scary! Fire hurts!" screeched the purple Grarrl, who stopped, dropped, and rolled.

"Funny, I was expecting him to run around with circles and cause the flames to spread quicker. Thank goodness he's aware of fire safety." thought Sheldon.

Cherry immediately pulled out a fire extinguisher and put out the flames so that the unfortunate Grarrl wouldn't be reduced to ash.

"Where do we keep getting these random objects? Then again, it's probably best not to dwell on it. After all, why question something we like?" thought the red Chia.

The Black Knight immediately turned his axe into a sword and swung it at Cherry, giving her a nasty cut across her cheek.

"Ow ow ow! I hope I don't have to visit the Neohospital so that it doesn't get infected…" she worried.

Bloony did not take this well. In a flurry of rage, he picked up the Black Knight…and sent him crashing through a wall and straight out of the castle.

"Noooo!" the Black Knight exclaimed, as he was sent flying over a cliff. Was he a goner? Had our heroes defeated him for good?

Either way, Fallenova noticed the disaster had befallen onto her long-term comrade, and she became fuming. If our heroes could see underneath our helmet, they would see that her face had turned red.

"No more games! It is time for me to end this, once and for all! You will regret the day that you ever decided to defy Lord Cataclysm!" she exclaimed.

Immediately, she flew up high above into the air and began charging a rather deadly spell using all six elements at once using her wand…one that would probably spell doom for our heroes if they were hit by it.

"Did you know she could do that? I don't recall her ever trying to cast a spell like that during our pervious battle. Did she learn some new tricks or something?" asked Cherry.

"We need to stop her before she finishes that spell, or we're done for! Everyone, attack her all at once to see if you can get her to stop!" Bloony exclaimed.

Immediately, our heroes focused every ounce of their power to attack her and stop the incredibly dangerous spell…

Bloony used his telekinesis to knock her into the ground…

Cherry used her cloning abilities and let out an enormous burp…

Marvin unloaded his heavy weaponry…

Ursula struck her with a flurry of punches while she was grounded…

Gary used his sharp teeth to bit her in the leg…

Sheldon kicked her lightning-quick…

Desdemona struck her with a darkness spell…

Suddenly, there was an enormous explosion that shook the castle and crumbled some of its foundations…apparently the spell had gone off in midair due to our heroes' interference.

Fallenova immediately collapsed to the ground from exhaustion. Apparently, she had given it her all in that particular attack.

"I wonder if she's going to be OK." worried Marvin.

"I don't think we've really got time to worry about it, even if you do make a good point." answered Cherry.

Our heroes immediately turned to the enormous door that lead straight to the Apocalypse Castle Throne Room. Certainly, Lord Cataclysm was behind it, wasn't he?

"Alright team this is it…behind that door is Lord Cataclysm himself…what awaits us beyond that is beyond my guess. This is our final battle…I assume you're all ready to go?" asked the yellow Blumaroo.

"As I'll ever be!" answered Cherry.

"Count me in!" concurred Marvin.

"It'd be a waste of time to back out now…" harmonized Ursula.

"I don't want to! I'm scared!" cried Gary.

The other Heroes of Light looked at the purple Grarrl.

He immediately took a deep breath…

"Alright, I guess we should fight Lord Cataclysm…after all, you guys will be with me every step of the way, right?" Gary inquired.

"That's the attitude we like to hear. I knew that you had it in you! I wouldn't want you to leave just when our adventure was almost over…" cheered Sheldon.

"Let's go fight Lord Cataclysm…we've been waiting a long time for this, haven't we?" recommended Desdemona.

And so our heroes opened the great door…where Lord Cataclysm was waiting…

As they did so, Bloony started to get worried. Something seemed wrong…and that their trip to his throne room seemed a bit too easy…was he simply being cynical like Gary, or was Lord Cataclysm up to something? Thoughts began circling around his head as his teammates began entering his inner sanctum…

_Our heroes have made it through Apocalypse Castle and have now obtained the right to battle him personally…this is the battle you've all been waiting for…and a battle that will bring this story to a conclusion…it's been rather long and I hope that I can finally make this story complete so we can all see how it ends. Personally, I'm just glad that I managed to make this chapter twelve pages long…hopefully if I decide to write a sequel I can make it longer than the first…that's what you would want right? Or maybe you like it the way it is...then again I don't think I can please everyone._

_I have to admit, it's been a long run, hasn't it? And to think I've been working on it for about a year or so…hopefully it's paid off and I haven't been wasting my time…like I said, I would like to hear from you guys about making a sequel…do you approve of it? Or do you think there should be only one Saving Neopia story?_

_Either way, I hope that you'll enjoy the upcoming final battle…I know that I've left it on a cliffhanger, but you probably want the final battle against Lord Cataclysm to have its own chapter, right? That way we can all see what happens at once…_

_So, I'll see you next time…hopefully soon…_


	71. Chapter 71: End of an Adventure

_Well, this is the battle we've all been waiting for, hasn't it? This is the final battle between the Heroes of Light and the Cult of Apocalypse…and the chapter where they finally get to fight Lord Cataclysm and finish him once and for all…_

_At least, that's what you've probably been expecting to happen. What will happen in this final battle will probably surprise you…on the hand, you might have been expecting this to well._

_To be honest, I was originally going to call this chapter simply "The Final Battle"…but I figured you would probably be expecting that…so I decided to come up with a slightly different title for this chapter, as you've already seen._

_Personally, I found it to still be fitting…so I hope you enjoy the chapter of this title…just like you enjoy watching the final battle…it was bound to happen sooner or later, am I right? After everything our heroes have gone through they've probably been looking forward to a conclusion._

_So let's give them one, shall we? For better or worse, here comes the final chapter! And before you ask, this chapter will include an epilogue, just to wrap up a few loose ends. I hope you enjoy the grand finale…of Saving Neopia!_

**Chapter 71: End of an Adventure**

Our heroes entered Lord Cataclysm's throne room, and soon enough they saw him sitting on his throne. Oddly enough, he seemed happy to see them, which worried Bloony. Surely he would have been furious that they made it towards his throne room and that he would have to take matters into his own hands? Something wasn't right.

"Ah Heroes of Light, I've been expecting you. In fact, I had a feeling that you'd make it this far…You've really lived up to your name…you've managed to defeat my strongest minions…and now you've actually made it here towards my personal chambers and inner sanctum. You do not disappoint me." Lord Cataclysm spoke.

"Unfortunate for you, you are too late to stop me. In just a few minutes, the missile I launched into the sky will come crashing down…and soon everything will be corrupted…all the Neopets will be under my control and will do whatever I wish, and no more will Neopia be a pleasant place…it shall instead be a world of my liking…"

Bloony was not happy about this at all, and began calling him out for his horrible actions.

"You're a monster, Lord Cataclysm! How could you do this to all of Neopia! You've destroyed everything! Neopia is doomed I tell you, doomed! And it's all because of you! You should be ashamed of yourself!" he bellowed.

Lord Cataclysm simply laughed, a laugh which sent chills down our heroes' spines.

"Funny you should mention that…you see, due to the fact I was created out of Faerie anger and hostility…one could say that I'm made out what you consider to be known as evil. It is for this reason I decided to corrupt all of Neopia to make it to be a suitable environment for me…to this end, I recruited various followers to join my cause…hoping they would be able to help me with this task…" he answered.

All of a sudden, our heroes began to feel new emotions towards the dark lord, now that they had realized the full extent of his dark origins. Everything he had done was now starting to make sense.

"You've been probably curious as to why I can change so easily from one form to another…due to the fact that I was created by unstable magic, I'm not limited to one shape or form. In fact, I can transform into pretty much whatever I wish…" he explained.

"We're going to take you down, Lord Cataclysm! No more will you will make Neopia suffer! You're not going to hurt anyone else! This is going to be your last battle!" Cherry screamed.

"As always, you're eager to stop me…I know what you're thinking. You think that good always triumphs over evil, and that therefore you will triumph over me. Very well then. Let's see if you have what it takes to stop me…" he replied.

Suddenly, Lord Cataclysm started shapeshifting…he turned into an enormous Tonu with an extremely large horn to match and started charging straight towards our heroes. Thankfully, they managed to move out of the way.

"How are we going to stop it from charging? Take away its credit cards?" inquired Cherry.

"I don't think it has credit cards unfortunately. And I don't want to end up in jail for identity theft." opposed Sheldon.

"How will we defeat it, then?" asked Gary.

"Just hit it with everything you got. I don't think it's as tough as it looks." ordered Bloony.

And so our heroes did so, using all their anger and fury to attack Lord Cataclysm with all of their strength. This proved to be surprisingly effective, and he collapsed on the ground with a loud thud. Unfortunately, he was not out of the picture yet, as the battle was still beginning. He retaliated by transforming into an enormous fire-breathing Draik, and began flying all across the room, shooting fireballs towards our heroes at a rapid pace as he did so.

"Hit the deck!" Bloony screamed.

Our heroes had quite a hard time dodging all the fireballs, to the point where they began wondering how they were going to fight back without getting burnt to cinders.

"Maybe we should have read a book about Draik-Slaying…or brought a shield that could defend us from fire." thought Desdemona.

Thankfully, Marvin had a Turbo-Flame Reflector, which he used to rebound the flames. Furious, Lord Cataclysm decided to fight them on the ground, trying to roast them with his fire breath and swipe at them with his long tail.

But our heroes managed to evade both of these attacks by striking him on his unprotected sides, causing him to collapse on the ground once again.

But he still was not defeated, once again he transformed, this time into one of his favorite forms, a giant Hissi. Immediately, he started trying to sink his toxic fangs into our heroes, or better yet, swallow them whole.

"How are we going to stop him! He's gotten too big! And something tells me that we'll be goners if he bites us even once…" screamed Ursula.

"Enough is enough! I have had it with all these freaking Hissis in this freaking castle! Well OK, maybe we haven't encountered that many Hissis, but one giant Hissi is way too much for me!" asked Marvin.

"Ah yes, nobody really likes venomous Hissis that like swallowing entire Neopets whole, now do they? They should probably get an entry in the Gallery of Evil…" agreed Bloony.

Thankfully, Desdemona got an idea…she fired a dark fireball into Lord Cataclysm's mouth while he was preparing to attack.

This disoriented him, and allowed our heroes to start fighting back against him. Careful not to end up being constricted (which would spell their doom), our heroes knocked the enormous Hissi to the ground.

"Hmph, it appears that transforming into you Neopets is not doing me any good. I suppose it's time for me to try something else." Lord Cataclysm said.

Suddenly, he transformed into a giant, destructive cannon and started shooting cannonballs at our heroes. Gary (accidentally) managed to destroy it with his tail, but he then followed by transforming into a boulder and trying to flatten our heroes.

"How are we going to harm him now? He's made of stone! Physical attacks are out of the question!" Cherry exclaimed.

"Allow me." said Desdemona.

Firing a few quick magic spells, Lord Cataclysm slowly began to shatter, until he eventually crumbled into seven pieces. Unfortunately, these pieces then began forming into seven different weapons, respectively a sword, an axe, a wand, a spear, a shield, a mace, and a crossbow.

"Oh c'mon! How long is this going to take!" screamed Sheldon.

Immediately, the sword dived towards Bloony, the axe began trying to chop Cherry into bits, the wand began shooting magic at Marvin, the spear began trying to jab Ursula, the shield began trying to ram into Gary, the mace began trying to crush Sheldon, and the crossbow began shooting at Desdemona.

"Seems he's trying to fight us seven-on-seven now…" Bloony thought.

Thankfully, our heroes eventually overcame the various deadly weapons. Using his telekinesis, our yellow Blumaroo managed to slam the sword into the wall, our red Chia made good use of her clones to grab ahold of the axe and smash it apart, our green Mynci used his rocket launcher to blow the wand to bits, our blue Usul used her strength to snap the spear into two, our purple Grarrl bit the shield into chunks, our orange Skeith used his super speed to send the mace flying out the window, and our Dark Faerie used her dark magic to shatter the crossbow.

But Lord Cataclysm was still not out of the picture, as he reassembled together and once again sat on his throne.

"Most impressive, but now it is time for me to show you my true from…" he said.

All of a sudden, a strange darkness began to emerge from his cloak, soon smoke, vapor, wind and curiously mud and lightning began to fill the room. Lord Cataclysm wasn't kidding when he said he was made out of unstable Faerie magic.

"What's going on?" wondered our heroes.

An eerie glare appeared from within the darkness and other substances, causing the Heroes of Light to be more scared than ever.

"Fools! You honestly thought that you could defeat me? Unfortunately for you, I've got big plans for you…" he said.

Out of nowhere, dark tendrils latched out and ensnared our heroes…slowly they felt their free will being sucked away.

Once again, Lord Cataclysm gave out a laugh.

"Soon you will lose any sort of individuality you already possess, you shall become my slaves, and with your help I will be unstoppable…"

Suddenly, The Black Knight barged into the room, eager to assist his master in dealing with the Heroes of Light.

"What happened to you, Lord Cataclysm? All of a sudden…you look different." he noted.

"Oh this? This is my true form…in case you were wondering, I usually use a different form to suppress my power and keep it under control. Of course, seeing who I was dealing with, I decided to let myself go." Lord Cataclysm answered.

"What are you doing to them?" the Black Knight asked.

"Oh them? Well, seeing though they've proven themselves to be such powerful fighters, I figured that I would make them my ultimate minions by sucking their free will dry so that they would have no choice but to obey me." The dark lord explained.

"That's going too far! You need to stop this!" demanded the Grundo.

Lord Cataclysm simply laughed, and shot a dark spell at the mutant, knocking him out cold.

"Now that I've got the Heroes of Light under my control, your services will no longer be required. Consider yourself relieved from duty."

Immediately afterwards, Fallenova came inside, and saw what had happened to the Black Knight. Immediately, she became furious.

"Why'd you do this to him?!" she screamed.

"Let's just say that he wasn't useful to me anymore. Anyways, now that I'm almost finished with the Heroes of Light, I should be able to rule Neopia with an iron fist without fear of opposition." he answered.

"What?!" yelled Fallenova.

"I suppose you haven't quite catched on. You see, that chemical you and Professor Nyctus developed was designed to bring evil towards Neopia…that way it would be far more enjoyable for me…"

Fallenova at this point was enraged.

"Personally, I expected more from you, Fallenova…you had access to all six elements of magic…and yet you still couldn't take down the Heroes of Light…"

Suddenly, the Nova Faerie shot a fireball at Lord Cataclysm, caused him to be burned.

"Aargh!" he screamed.

"That was for Faerieland!" she bellowed.

She then hurled chunks of ice at him, causing him to become even more injured.

"Fallenova, what are you doing?!" he shouted.

"That was for Fyora!" she bellowed.

Next, the Faerie struck the Big Bad with lightning, causing him to be electrocuted.

"Aargh! Curse you!" he screeched.

"That was for the Neopets you hurt!"

Fallenova followed up by hitting him with a darkness spell, causing him to go blind.

"No! No! No!"

"That was for the Heroes of Light!" she bellowed.

The Nova Faerie kept on kicking, as she then crushed Lord Cataclysm with an earth spell.

"This can't be happening!"

"That was for all the Neopets you manipulated into doing your bidding!"

Finally, Fallenova shot an air spell at Lord Cataclysm.

"And that was for the Black Knight!" she screeched.

This must have done the trick, because suddenly the dark lord began to disappear.

"It's just as the prophecy said…and to think I worked so hard to fight fate…why does good triumph over evil? It doesn't make sense…everyone knows that evil is always superior to good…why did I lose?! Why can't I fight fate?! Why?!" he bellowed.

Shortly afterwards, he vanished completely, and suddenly everything seemed to become less evil…the Apocalypse Castle started to look rather cheery. Our heroes heard an explosion above their heads…had the missile exploded without Lord Cataclysm to command it? The Cult of Apocalypse members seemed just as curious as they were.

"Is Lord Cataclysm dead?" asked one of the Cult of Apocalypse members.

"It looks that way! I guess that means we can take a nice long-deserved vacation!" answered another cult member.

"That's good, I didn't like working for him that much anyway. He was really creepy and I got the feeling that he thought we were worthless." said the aforementioned Cult of Apocalypse member.

One by one, the Cult of Apocalypse cult members decided to leave. Hopefully they had realized that they were doing evil rather than good, and that they wouldn't do Lord Cataclysm's bidding anymore. Of course, now that he was gone, he didn't have any commands to give them anyway.

Fallenova suddenly collapsed on the ground. Apparently, using all that Faerie magic had taken quite a bit out of her.

"I hope she doesn't turn into a Grey Faerie from overuse from magic…" stated Gary.

"Don't worry, I think she's going to be alright…" answered Cherry.

Thankfully, the Nova Faerie did not turn into a Grey Faerie…in fact, she seemed awfully relaxed now that she was no longer under Lord Cataclysm's control. However, her armor had mysteriously disappeared. Perhaps it had been destroyed now that her master was gone?

Suddenly, the Black Knight's armor disappeared as well, causing him to wake up and wonder what was going on.

"What happened? Where's Lord Cataclysm? And why is Fallenova sleeping?" inquired the Black Knight.

"Oh her? She's taking a little nap…you probably won't believe us, but she managed to take down Lord Cataclysm…all by herself."

Suddenly, the Nova Faerie woke up…she started wondering what was going on as well.

"Funny…I think I had the strangest dream…I dreamt that I destroyed Lord Cataclysm and saved all of Neopia from his crazy plans…of course, I wasn't aware of his plans until he told me about it…right before I destroyed him. It was really weird." Fallenova explained.

"That actually happened." answered Cherry.

"What?" she screamed.

She looked around her, and noticed that everything seemed to be much nicer now that Lord Cataclysm had been defeated for good.

"It's as if his destruction caused everything to turn back to normal. You think what he had done would be more permanent…" she said.

"Yes well…so much for ontological inertia, eh?" Marvin answered.

"Ontological wha?" asked Ursula.

"Never mind, let's simply be glad that Lord Cataclysm is gone and that we can all throw a party. Who wants popcorn?" inquired Sheldon.

Suddenly, the Black Knight went up to Fallenova, who helped her to her feet.

"Did you really defeat Lord Cataclysm by yourself, Fallenova? Is he really gone?" he asked.

"Yes…hopefully anyway…either way, it looks like Neopia is safe from his clutches and that we won't have to worry about his wrath anymore…" replied Fallenova.

"Well then, I have to say that I'm rather proud of you. Thanks to you he'll never terrorize Neopia again, and that we can all sit back and relax and enjoy a nice game of Destruct-O-Match." congratulated the Black Knight.

"Hey, The Black Knight. Come closer, I've got a present for you." said the Nova Faerie.

The mutant Grundo did as asked. "What is it? Is it a surprise? I'm curious."

Suddenly, Fallenova gave him a peck on the cheek…causing him to pass out once more and collapse on top of her.

"I was afraid that was going to happen. Can you help me get him off of me? He's kind of heavy…" asked the Nova Faerie.

"You sure you don't enjoy it?" asked Desdemona.

"Well, OK, maybe a little, but still!" exclaimed Fallenova.

_A few hours later…_

Now that Lord Cataclysm was defeated, the dark curse he had cast on Fyora had been broken…in other words, she was no longer a statue and could rule Faerieland once again. Thankfully, the Cult of Apocalypse members had all left to do something other than do the bidding of some dark lord, mainly due to the fact they were bored, so they didn't have to worry about them.

Marvin and Ursula began helping to get the Healing Faerie out of her pipe, and were having a hard time doing so.

"Maybe if we spin it around?" asked Marvin.

Ursula began doing so, causing the Healing Faerie's top half to come out of the pipe.

"Well, I guess this is preferable, but I'm still stuck!" screamed the Healing Faerie.

Immediately, the green Mynci began to drool upon seeing her prettier half, causing Ursula to smack him in the face.

"Ouch!" he bellowed.

Ursula then used her strength to pull the Healing Faerie out of the pipe…which caused her to land on top of Marvin...and give him a big kiss.

"Am I in heaven?" he asked.

Ursula's face immediately turned a bright red, and smoke began to come out of her ears. She picked up Marvin and began dragging him by the ear away from Faerieland.

"That's it! No more Faeries for you! You're just too lovesick!" the blue Usul yelled.

"I'll call you!" Marvin shouted.

Elsewhere, Sheldon and Gary were trying to get the Library Faerie down.

"Can you use your teeth to bite the rope?" Sheldon asked.

"I can, but I'm really scared! I don't like heights! I'm not sure if I can do this!" Gary screamed.

"Just take a deep breath…" the orange Skeith suggested.

Gary did so…and suddenly he began screaming. Frantic, he rapidly bit into the rope that was suspending the Library Faerie…causing her to fall on top of Sheldon. Immediately, several stars began forming around his head.

"Why are there seven of you?" he asked.

"What have I done! I'm so sorry!" Gary yelled.

Thankfully, Sheldon was fine a few minutes later…after he took a trip to the Healing Springs.

At the Wheel of Fortune, Bloony and Cherry untied the Light Faerie who was in charge.

"Thank you…I was getting really dizzy." answered the pixie.

"No problem…I'm just glad that you're safe." replied Bloony.

A few minutes later…

Fyora had assembled all the Heroes of Light for a meeting, where she would thank each of them personally for helping them save Neopia.

"Funny, didn't she do that when Tormund and Roberta saved Faerieland and Meridell from the Darkest Faerie?" Bloony asked.

"Apparently she does this a lot." agreed Cherry.

"I'm just glad that we're getting a reward!" exclaimed Desdemona.

"A royal welcome to the Heroes of Light, who helped save all of Neopia from the wrath of Lord Cataclysm!" greeted Fyora.

Immediately, everyone in the crowd began cheering. The Heroes of Light looked around them, and noticed that curiously enough several Cult of the Apocalypse members were in the crowd, such as Shuriken and Professor Nyctus. Had they decided to renounce their evil ways now that Lord Cataclysm was gone? Granted, he had been manipulating them for quite some time…so perhaps it made sense.

"As a reward for your efforts, I will be giving each of you a badge to show that you're all officially heroes!" she exclaimed.

Immediately, the Heroes of Light all received seven badges with an insignia on it, which represented that they had saved Faerieland from certain doom.

"Alright! This is our lucky day!" yelled Marvin.

Fyora then called Fallenova to the stand, much to everyone in the audience's surprise.

"Yes…you wanted me?" she asked.

"Yes…due to the fact that she eventually saw the error of her ways…and was the one that vanquished Lord Cataclysm…she will now be put in charge of the Hidden Tower!"

Once again, the audience began clapping their hands.

"Thank you, your highness!" Fallenova exclaimed.

The Black Knight was then called up to the stand.

"Due to the fact that you helped Fallenova get the courage to stand up to Lord Cataclysm and put an end to his reign of terror, you shall be appointed captain of the Faerieland Royal Guard!"

The audience once again clapped, but the Black Knight raised an eyebrow.

"What happened to the old captain?" he asked.

"He fled like a Peadackle as soon as the Cult of Apocalypse launched their attack, and his whereabouts are currently unknown." explained Queen Fyora.

"I see…" the Black Knight thought.

"From now on, let this day be known as the Day of Illumination, due to the fact that this was the day when the Heroes of Light shined their light throughout Neopia by ridding the world of Lord Cataclysm's madness!"

"Hip hip hooray!" the crowd cheered.

Shortly afterwards, our heroes went to the Faerieland Gift Shop, where they would all get their picture taken so that they would all be registered in the Faerieland Hall of Fame…and so they would have something they could hang on their walls.

"Say cheese!" squealed the cameraman.

"Cheese!" they all exclaimed.

CLICK!

_A few minutes later…_

"So, are you all happy as to how the picture turned out?" asked Bloony.

"Yes, although Gary seems to be sweating somewhat…" Cherry noted.

"I was nervous, okay!" Gary exclaimed.

"It's OK, you look fine nonetheless. I'm just glad that you were brave enough to get a picture this time." answered Sheldon.

"Don't I look awesome in this picture?!" exclaimed Marvin.

"Surprisingly enough, you do. Then again, you always look awesome to me." agreed Ursula.

"One thing's for sure…today's a day that we're never going to forget!" Desdemona exclaimed.

THE END

_Epilogue…_

Bloony went back home to Roo Island, where he found a bunch of Blumaroos that wanted to get his autograph. Somehow, he found the energy to give them all every single one. Even the king himself wanted an autograph!

Cherry went back to her house in Neopia Central, where she found her family had thrown her a surprise party. Personally, she was just glad that there was a lot of food, since she loved eating so much.

Marvin went back to his home in the Neopian Jungle, where much to his surprise he found that all of his friends wanted to play video games with him. He happily accepted this invitation, and together they played for a few hours or so.

Ursula went to her house in the clouds, where she found that a bunch of her friends wanted to do some exercises with her, simply so that they could lose some weight. She happily accepted the invitation, and even agreed to let them give her a makeover.

Gary went back to Tyrannia, where much to his horror a bunch of Neopets wanted to say hello to them. Immediately, he fled like a coward…but eventually he decided to come back and shake some hands, due to the fact that he was feeling brave after everything he had done.

Sheldon went back to the Lost Desert, where he decided to have a race with all of his friends. Naturally, he managed to win the contest, and was awarded with a shiny trophy that he could hang in his closet. Where his friends got a trophy, Neopia may never know.

Desdemona went back to the Haunted Woods, where much to her shock her friends wanted to renounce their evil ways and be good Faeries just like her…of course, it would be a long time before they did so completely.

Fallenova is still working in the Hidden Tower, giving out expensive weapons to rich Neopians, hoping that she wasn't giving them out to the wrong hands.

The Black Knight continues guarding Fyora to this day, making sure that she doesn't fall under attack along with the rest of his crew.

Professor Nyctus and Steven decided to live on Kreludor with all the Grundos, due to the fact that there was so much research they could do there.

Shuriken is currently still training with the Techo Master, hoping to become stronger without cheating like had done previously. He's also made friends with his other apprentice Ryshu the Nimmo, curiously enough.

Lord Cataclysm was broken down into the evil he was made out of…which hopefully would not come back together again for the sake of Neopians everywhere.

The Villains of Darkness's whereabouts are currently unknown, although rumor has it that they're currently concocting another evil scheme…which hopefully will fail miserably and in a rather comedic fashion.

The League of Villains were all sent to the Underworld, where they were all punished for their crimes by being forced to watch a bunch of horrible movies that not even a Tyrannian would enjoy.

Eithne was sentenced by the Faerie of Death to have her feet tickled by a bunch of Mystery Island natives…which backfired somewhat due to the fact that she enjoyed it.

Fyora continued to rule Faerieland, just like as she had been doing so for over nine thousand years.

Tura-Kepek was sentenced to watch the aforementioned horrible movies along with the League of Villains.

King Roo decided to eat a hot, delicious pizza that he had ordered from Pizza-Roo. It was delicious, and he savored every bite.

Bloony's Baby Blu blew a raspberry at Cherry's Snorkle, causing it to snort at it angrily in response. Thankfully, it got on well with our other heroes' Petpets.

The other Faeries in Neopia decided to throw a big party at Faerieland Palace…with Fyora's permission of course.

The other characters in this story lived happily ever after, unsurprisingly.

The author of this story is currently considering make a sequel at the moment, so he's giving you a sequel hook.

_It's sequel hook time!_

Steven searched in his suitcase…hoping to find the chemical Professor Nyctus that wanted for his next experiment. Instead, he found a strange potion that was as black as ink. Curious, he decided to investigate what it was, and noticed that there was a sticky note attached to it.

_Dear Professor Nyctus,_

_It has come to my attention that there may be someone who wants to destroy my work, and ruin the perfect world that we have envisioned. Therefore, I have stored a small amount of my power inside this potion you see before you._

_In the event I am somehow defeated, I want you to create a new body for me…and then use this potion to bring me back to life…remember what I've promised you…succeed and I will reward you and the rest of my followers greatly…in fact, you will be the first one to be rewarded._

_So take care of this potion, and make sure that it does not spill or break._

_Sincerely,_

_Lord Cataclysm_

"Some perfect world he managed to create, he tried to ruin Neopia for everyone! There's no way the professor is going to want to use this. I'm throwing it away!" he stated, tossing it inside a nearby trash can. He then went back to look for the chemical his boss wanted.

As he did so, the chemical began shaking back and forth, bubbling wildly as it did so.

_THE END?_

_So, how was that for a sequel hook? Like I said, I want your input before I decided to make a sequel…as I may have said before I've already got a few ideas…but I want to hear what you want to add in for this story…hopefully that way you'll have something to do until then…_

_In the meantime, I'll probably be working on my other fics…it should be easier now that I've managed to finish this story. Feel free to read them if you want…but I get the feeling that some of them might end up dead, unfortunately, due to the fact that my heart's not really in them and I haven't gotten a lot of reviews for them…still, it might be worth a look._

_So, hopefully you'll wish the Heroes of Light (and your other favorite characters, apart from Lord Cataclysm and the Villains of Darkness, of course) a happily ever after, so that they'll be in one piece in the event I do decide to make a sequel…seeing though I have a lot of time at my hands._

_So, I hope you enjoyed this particular story, and I hope you keep giving me positive reviews for it…personally, I'm just glad that I managed to finish this story so that you can all see how it all ended, unlike all those stories on that for some reason authors decide to abandon after just a few chapters._

_So, I guess this is goodbye then…I know you're probably sad that this story has ended…but it's not like Lord Cataclysm won and the Heroes of Light suffered an extreme fate worse than death, am I right? That's pretty much all we can ask for…_

_Oh, and feel free to PM me if you want to hear a few ideas I've got for the sequel…they mainly involve the new Big Bad (since Lord Cataclysm is dead, I'll need to create another one, of course) and the Villains of Darkness (you're probably wondering what happened to them, aren't you? All I'm going to say to you at the moment is that they're still alive)_

_So until then, feel free to read a bunch of other Neopets fics…and I hope you find a good one. Peace out. Way out. Heh heh heh heh._


End file.
